Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
month). While in the US, minimum wage is considered a starting point, most Salvadorans
aspire only to minimum wage…and that's all they get.
The Western Union office is a busy place in El Salvador. Money wired home from immig-
rant laborers in the US keeps many Central American families afloat.
To make ends meet, most Salvadoran families struggle to send one person abroad
to earn money. These expats seek a menial labor job in the US and send back what's
called “remittances.” More than 15 percent of El Salvador's economy is money wired
home from the USA. “Refugee aid” like this is common throughout the developing world.
In fact, each year throughout the world, refugees working in rich countries send about
half a trillion dollars to their families back home. But the cost to those home countries is
an expensive “brain drain.” Half of El Salvador's university students aspire to leave the
country. They see higher education as their ticket out. And, while immigrants send home
lots of money, the resulting broken families—poor single mothers trying to raise children
alone—leaves a society ripe for the growth of street gangs.
