BY MORRIS THOMPSON
 Herald World Staff

 MEXICO CITY -- Rosa María Reyes says she is tired of sewing clothes for about $55 a week in a factory here, but she dropped out of fifth grade and doesn't have many
 options.

 More than half of the 36 million Mexicans older than 15 have less than nine years of schooling, the minimum that most employers now require for better jobs.

 And as Mexico's economic aspirations rise, the lack of skilled labor is getting in the way. Upgrading skills also is vital if President Vicente Fox is to persuade more
 Mexicans to stay home for the better jobs he promises to create. The alternative is to emigrate to the United States, where low-skill jobs pay better.

 The solution could be to expand enrollment in adult-education programs of the sort Reyes has joined.

 Reyes, 20, is studying for a federal exam administered monthly by the National Institute of Adult Education (INEA) that would certify that she has completed the Mexican
 equivalent of junior high school. She already has passed the elementary-school exam and plans to continue her studies in a night high school.

 INEA awarded 318,000 primary and secondary certificates last year, 321,000 the year before. About 1 million people are in INEA's programs at any given time.

 INEA's challenge is to break a vicious cycle common in poor countries. Children forced to drop out of school and work often can't earn enough as adults to keep their own
 children in school.

 Reyes' mother went only as far as third grade, and Reyes had to go to work at 13 to supplement her mother's meager earnings as a maid.

 ``This is going to expand my opportunities,'' Reyes said, ``and then maybe I can find a career.''

 Reyes represents one target population for INEA: the nearly 10 million Mexican aged 15 to 29 who didn't finish junior high. With an equivalency certificate, they're likely to
 go further with their studies so they can get better jobs, said INEA director José Antonio Carranza.

 Since 1997, young men doing their obligatory military service, which in Mexico is weekend reserve duty, have been required to use the time to study for an INEA
 equivalency exam if they have less than a secondary certificate.

 About one-fifth of the half-million reserve participants have passed the primary or secondary exam, Carranza said.

 But many uneducated people are older, Carranza said, and may lack even basic skills. He said nine out of 10 people with less than nine years of education work in what's
 known as the informal economy.

 They're the people who are everywhere in Mexico's cities, selling candy at stoplights or batteries on the subway, for example. They typically clear less than minimum
 wage, which is about $4 a day. About 4 of 10 Mexicans live on less than $2 a day.

                                    © 2001