As China Gallops, Mexico Sees Factory Jobs Slip Away

The search for profit drives companies to look for the lowest production costs possible, and that search is taking more and more American companies from factories in Mexico to factories in China. America's southern neighbor received a boom in employment after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s, but China's rise as a supplier of cheap labor is now drawing US companies clear across the Pacific Ocean. Since 2001, Mexican workers have lost over 200,000 jobs due to factory closings. With China's labor costs averaging about one-fourth of Mexico's, jobs making blue jeans, automobiles, and other items for the American market are likely to increasingly shift to China. Economists and Mexican officials say that re-tooling workers’ skills and re-focusing on the production of more sophisticated goods will help Mexico remain a player in the global production chain. On the ground, however, such changes are likely to take some time, idle time which poor laborers can ill-afford. – YaleGlobal