After 20 Years, NAFTA Leaves Mexico’s Economy in Ruins
from truthdig:
After 20 Years, NAFTA Leaves Mexico’s Economy in Ruins
Posted on Jan 9, 2014
By Sonali Kolhatkar
Twenty years ago, on Jan. 1, 1994, a trade deal championed by Democratic President Bill Clinton went into effect. The North American Free Trade Agreement was meant to integrate the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico by breaking down trade barriers among them, creating jobs and closing the wage gap between the U.S. and Mexico.
What in fact happened under NAFTA was that heavily subsidized U.S. corn flooded the Mexican market, putting millions of farmers out of work. Multinational corporations opened up factories creating low-wage jobs at the expense of organized labor and the environment. This, in turn, drove waves of migration north.
Meanwhile, corporate profits soared, and Mexico boasted the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim. Walmart and Krispy Kreme conquered Mexico, and ordinary Mexicans had access to the same consumer goods as their neighbors to the north. The economies of all three nations, measured only by GDP rather than jobs or wages, were pronounced grand successes, even though the U.S. and Canada disproportionately reaped more financial benefits.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., manufacturing jobs fell dramatically and organized labor lost even more clout. The Great Recession of 2008 worsened the downward trend, especially for Mexicans. Mexico’s economy, tied intimately to the U.S.’ because of NAFTA, suffered more than any other country in Latin America. .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/after_20_years_nafta_leaves_mexicos_economy_in_ruins_20140109
= new reply since forum marked as read
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2000 the United States had roughly 1,310,000 jobs in the auto industry. Currently employment in the sector is around 800,000, implying a drop of 38.9 percent.
If employment in Canada followed the same pattern, then Mexico's share of total industry employment in North America would have risen to more than 55 percent if it had stayed constant since 2000. Since Mexico's share of total employment is now just 40 percent, it implies that it has gained share by seeing a less rapid decline, not by adding jobs. This doesn't fit well with the main thesis of the article which is that a middle class is rising in Mexico.
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/is-mexico-adding-auto-jobs-or-is-it-just-losing-them-less-rapidly
Total auto jobs are down, period.
And China has also lost a lot of manufacturing jobs.
Response to marmar (Original post)
