Despite Fears, Mexico’s Manufacturing Boom Lifts US Workers

Automation is transforming manufacturing, reducing jobs and need for skills. A Los Angeles Time article describes apprenticeships for young Mexicans working alongside robots in a BMW plant in Mexico. US presidential candidates question the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but many companies – including those from outside the US – are shifting operations from China to Mexico. Most rely on supplies from the US. “Whereas China’s prowess in electronics and textiles appears to have made a lasting dent on U.S. manufacturing – costing up to 2.4 million jobs from 1999 to 2011, according to one study – trade flows with Mexico have been more balanced,” reports Natalie Kitroeff for the Los Angeles Times. “Multinational manufacturing companies hire an extra 250 U.S. workers for every 100 employees they bring on in Mexico, according to a 2014 study by researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan organization.” The minimum wage in Mexico is $4.25 per day compared with $7.25 in the US. One plastics maker does not apologize for creating more Mexican than US jobs because customers at all levels demand low costs. – YaleGlobal