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 Business News | February 2006 
Mexico's '05 Job Growth is Called Record
 Diane Lindquist - San Diego Union-Tribune
| | Mexican Labor Secretary Francisco Javier Salazar Sáenz |
Tijuana – Mexican Labor Secretary Francisco Javier Salazar Sáenz said this week that the country created a record number of jobs last year, but he conceded it was not enough to stem the illegal flow of Mexicans seeking work in the United States.
In a interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune after delivering a speech here at the Ibero-American University, Salazar said, “We had a very good year in 2005.”
More than 750,000 jobs were created, he noted, adding that the figure accounts only for jobs linked to Mexico's formal sector and not for the unknown number that sprang forth in the nation's underground economy.
“We were very close to creating the number of jobs the country requires to absorb new entrants into the workforce, which is 1 million. We are confident that in 2006, we will have that many,” Salazar said.
Nevertheless, he said last year's job creation is not sufficient to discourage job-seekers from migrating to the United States. U.S. and Mexican migration experts estimate that 300,000 to 500,000 undocumented Mexicans cross the border each year in search of employment.
“We're trying to make a good climate for investors in Mexico to stem the tide of migration to the United States,” Salazar said.
During the first five years of President Vicente Fox's administration, workers in Mexico have recovered 5 percent of the purchasing power lost after the 1994 peso devaluation. In some sectors, such as the maquiladora industry, workers' buying power has increased by 15 percent.
Fox came to the presidency in 2000 vowing to achieve 7 percent economic growth in Mexico, a level that many economists contend is needed to eradicate the country's excessive poverty and bridge the gap between rich and poor.
Last year's 3 to 4 percent growth rate is the highest the Fox administration has been able to attain, a failure the president and his cabinet blame on the national congress' refusal to enact labor, energy and tax reforms.
“We require much bigger growth, but we can't do it if we can't make the reforms our country needs,” Salazar said Thursday.
He took the top job in the labor ministry after leading a campaign that attempted to persuade legislators to enact reforms to give businesses more flexibility in hiring and firing workers.
Salazar said he regretted that he was not successful, and he doubted that the Fox administration would be able to achieve the labor reforms before he leaves office in December.
Rafael Amiel, managing director of Global Insight's Latin America service, predicted that the Fox administration will fail to gain labor reforms and that it's unlikely that the party which comes to power after the July election would be successful in enacting the first labor reforms in more than three decades.
“We don't think the political atmosphere favors a change,” Amiel said in a presentation two weeks ago in San Diego. Global Insight provides economic and financial forecasting and consulting.
Another uncertainty facing Mexico: If the country does achieve a 7 percent growth rate and job creation adequate to keep Mexicans employed in the country, does the workforce have the skills and education needed for the type of work that would be required?
Since Baja California has recovered from a maquiladora crisis in the early 2000s by upgrading the level of employment, factories have had problems attracting enough qualified workers.
“We can't fill all the jobs in Baja California,” Salazar said, but he said the Fox administration has raised the level of education and training.
“Right now,” Salazar said, “the quality of workers is higher than it was 10 to 15 years ago.”
Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; diane.lindquist@uniontrib.com |
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