Despite a smaller number of companies registered under Mexico’s IMMEX-Maquiladora program over a calendar year, employment figures are up.

In terms of numbers, there were 2.2% fewer companies registered under the Mexico IMMEX-Maquiladora program in June 2014 than there were during the same month in the prior year. During the sixth month of 2014, the number of firms categorized as IMMEX-Maquiladora, and actively participating in the program, was six thousand one hundred and sixty-two.

According to information generated by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography and Statistics (or INEGI, as it is known by its Spanish acronym) this is the tenth consecutive year that such a reduction in participating companies has taken place. Despite this, however, the number employed by IMMEX-Maquiladora Program companies increased by five percent between of June 2013 and June of the present year.

INEGI has provided statistics thatdemonstrate that 81.4% of companies participating in the program are currently operating as maquiladora manufacturers, while the remaining 18.6% are involved in other activities that include:

  • agriculture
  • fishing
  • import-export trade
  • services

With regard to the increase in employment reported by INEGI among companies registered as IMMEX-Maquiladora operations, 89.3% of new jobs were created in manufacturing activities, while the remaining 10.7% of positions were added in the aforementioned non-manufacturing activities.

The distribution of IMMEX-Maquiladora program job additions differed among states, with Durango registering the highest gain at 21.1%.  Other increases were experienced in:

  • Guanajuato 18.5%
  • Queretaro 17.7%
  • Michoacan 16%
  • San Luis Potosi 8.8%
  • Sinaoa 7.4%
  • Aguascalientes 7.2%
  • Chihuahua 6.6%
  • Coahuila 5.7%
  • Baja California 5.4%

National Institute of Geography and Statistics figures for the time period June 2013 to June 2014 also revealed that the number of hours worked by employees of in firms participating in  the IMMEX-Maquiladora program rules and regulations increased annually by 5.8%. This number resulted by an increase in working hours among manufacturing companies of 6.6%, and a decrease in the same among non-manufacturing firms of .6%

Between June of 2013 and the same month of the current year, remuneration in companies actively participating in the IMMEX-Maquiladora program increased by half a percentage point.

Read the primary source for this post in its original Spanish at Milenio.com.

 

Image credits: Steve Bowbrick