Guillermo Herrera Guzmán, 79, waits for work on the steps of a public plaza with his painting and plastering tools.

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Mexican President Felipe Calderon says that the economy is on the mend, but his own government's figures show that the effects of a positive turnaround won't be felt until sometime in 2010. Government statistics aren't needed by the day laborers who come every morning to the Plaza San Jacinto in the San Angel neighborhood of Mexico City. Painters, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, electricians and jacks-of-all-trades wait with their tools in the plaza and on adjacent streets in hopes of being hired. Guillermo Herrera Guzmán, 79, waits on the steps of the plaza with his bag of tools that carries his specialties of painter and plasterer.

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Size: 5072px × 3396px
Location: Mexico City
Photo credit: © Keith Dannemiller / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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