Save Our State  

Go Back   Save Our State > Priority Topics Section > The Economy

The Economy Topics and information relating to the economy affecting SOS associates

WELCOME BACK!.............NEW EFFORTS AHEAD..........CHECK BACK SOON.........UPDATE YOUR EMAIL FOR NEW NOTIFICATIONS.........
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-25-2009, 01:04 PM
Jeanfromfillmore's Avatar
Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,287
Default Recession Squeezes Mexican Workers In U.S.

Recession Squeezes Mexican Workers In U.S.
October 25, 2009
This is part two of this report from NPR
There has been a decline in illegal immigration since the financial crisis, but the vast majority of undocumented Mexican workers in the U.S. are staying put, according to new research.
While migrant workers lost jobs faster than Americans, most chose not to go home because the recession in Mexico is even worse.
Manuel Castro works in New York for the office of immigrant affairs for the Mexican state of Puebla. From his office in midtown Manhattan, he sees firsthand the effects of the U.S. recession on Mexican workers.
"First, people started to come in and started talking about their employers not being able to pay them," says Castro, who was hired last year, just as the investment house Lehman Brothers crashed and the economy downturn worsened.
As better-paying jobs dried up, Mexican workers in New York looked for any work they could find.
"Now, they are not getting enough hours for their week, they can't meet their expenses, pay rent, sending money back to Mexico. And you know, a lot of them do come and say, 'You know what? I just want to go back home.' But they can't — they are stuck here in New York," Castro says.
Puebla-New York City Connection
A large number of Mexicans from Puebla state came to New York City to find work during the boom years in the 1990s.
Many came illegally from poor rural villages. They have no birth certificates, no school records, nothing that proves they are Mexican citizens — so they can't get a passport.
Cecilia, an out-of-work house cleaner, visits Castro's office to ask for help. She says she has no papers.
Castro says he hears this all the time. "I get a lot of phone calls, people who are like, "Look, how can I get deported?' And I'm like, it doesn't work that way. I just can't call someone to go pick you up," he says.
Cecilia says she would not want to risk deportation as a means of getting back to Mexico. Deportation means being fingerprinted and the risk of jail time, she says in Spanish. "I don't want to go through that."
Most jobs for immigrants were concentrated in construction and the service industries. Demetrios Papademetriou, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, says new research by his organization shows that these are the sectors that got hurt early, were hurt the deepest, and continue to lose jobs.
As a result, unemployment has been disproportionately high for Mexicans in the U.S., regardless of their legal status.
Papademetriou says there has been an unprecedented slowdown in migration from Mexico to the United States. "Net immigration — illegal immigration, in particular from Mexico — has been flat," he says.
Riding Out The Recession In The U.S.
But his research shows that Mexicans already in the U.S. are riding out the crisis.
"So far, they are holding tight, as a rule, and the fact that the circumstances in Mexico are even worse — that makes it even more difficult to even consider going back," he says.
In the 1990s, New York was a destination for so many migrants from Puebla that the local community calls the city "Puebla York."
At annual celebrations in New York's Mexican community marking Mexico's independence day, officials from the state of Puebla last month marched at the head of the parade and met with New York leaders.
"This is the first time they've been here, so this is a very important meeting," Castro says.
Remittances from Mexican workers in the U.S. are a key part of Mexico's economy. They send about $24 billion a year — about the same as Mexico's income from oil production. But remittances are falling for the first time, down 20 percent last year.
In the meeting, leaders of New York's Mexican community renewed their commitment to send money to Mexico. Mexican government officials pledged to match it — three to one — in a program that puts money to work in Mexico's poorest communities.
Less Money To Send Back To Mexico
But remittances from undocumented workers in the U.S. are expected to fall again this year.
Erasmo Ponzi, known as the tortilla king of Brooklyn, knows that many Mexicans living in the U.S. can no longer afford to send money back to relatives in Mexico. He knows because he sells to restaurants and grocery stores in the Northeast that cater to Mexican workers.
"Wow, it's a big change, because before, people would buy five or six packages of corn tortillas. So, now, they buy just two or three. So this is a big difference than before. They don't have jobs. It's bad. The situation is bad," he says.
In a classroom run by Tepeyac, a nonprofit organization in New York City that supports Mexican immigrants, students hunch over thick workbooks and take turns scribbling complex math problems on the board at the front of the room.
Executive Director Joel Magallan teaches the class three days a week. He says many American employers cut the hours of their Mexican workers but encouraged them to stay in the United States.
"What I found from different employers — I was talking to them and they said, 'I don't want to lose my workers. I'm pushing them to stay here and get like 20 hours or 30 hours, as much as I can,' " Magallan says.
New York has depended on Mexican workers for more than a decade. Research from the Pew Hispanic Center shows 95 percent of Mexican men in New York illegally were in the work force.
Papademetriou says U.S. employers will depend on them again.
"The most likely workers to be called back first: Mexicans, those who are here illegally," he says. "And this is going to be very contentious when it happens, very contentious."
When the recession fades, Papademetriou says, employers are likely to bring back those who cost the least. "They are going to try to bring in some more workers who, in their mind, are both hard workers but also contingent workers. In other words, they can let them go if things don't work out just in case a real recovery is a mirage."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...77&ft=1&f=1006
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-25-2009, 01:05 PM
Jeanfromfillmore's Avatar
Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,287
Default

This is part one of this report.
Mexico Looks To U.S. To Fuel Economic Recovery
October 24, 2009
t wasn't always this way. But after 15 years of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, at least 80 percent of Mexico's trade is with the U.S., and Mexico is the second largest destination for U.S. goods.
That was great in the boom years. But the U.S. recession hit Mexico hard.
"That, in turn, hurts the United States. When Mexicans are not able to purchase U.S. goods, it also hurts U.S. exporting industries — everything from farm machinery in Indiana, wheat in Nebraska, all sorts of goods out of Texas," says Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
"We have a sort of boomerang effect back and forth. The U.S. economy goes down and hurts the Mexican economy. But in return, as the Mexican economy struggles to get back on its feet, it also slows down our recovery," Selee says.
Puebla, Mexico, an inland city about two hours south of the capital, is struggling to get back on its feet. The city has a historic downtown district — cobblestone streets and Spanish churches. But the economy is global, based on manufacturing of goods made in Mexico and sold mainly in the United States.
The credit crisis that followed the collapse of the investment firm Lehman Brothers last year had a dramatic impact in Puebla. U.S. manufacturers slashed orders from Mexican factories by 30 percent.
'How To Survive?'
"The crisis is affecting our business, of course. We are a victim of what is happening. You have to think — how to survive?" says Julian Abed, Puebla's representative for the American computer company Hewlett-Packard.
Abed says he no longer feels comfortable with the U.S.-Mexican trade relationship.
"Our bet was to have trade with the United States, to share our destiny with everything. But they didn't," he says. "We are a new class of Mexicans who are fighting to have a position in the world."
The massive downturn in Mexico, with the slowest recovery in Latin America, has opened a debate about close ties to the U.S. market.
Some factories assembling jeans and T-shirts have closed. Auto parts factories are struggling. The Volkswagen plant in Puebla has put much of the workforce on half-time shifts.
Lost Factory Orders, Lost Jobs
Unemployment has been twice as high as in corresponding U.S. industries, economist Gordon Hanson says.
"The piece of the production process that Mexico has grabbed over the last 20 years is primarily assembly of parts and components in the final output, which is highly volatile," says Hanson, director of the Center on Pacific Economies at the University of California, San Diego.
His new research shows that Mexico cushioned American manufacturing in the downturn because orders from Mexican factories were canceled first.
"Even though Mexico didn't plan to kind of take a high-risk strategy in terms of how it inserts itself in the global economy, that's how it's ended up," he says.
The Rev. Jorge Galicia Amesqua sees the social costs of that risk.
A year ago, he quit his job as a psychology professor to work at a Catholic parish. Our Lady of the Forsaken is aptly named, it turns out. With no government benefits for the unemployed, many turn to his church for help. Amesqua says the downturn has touched every business.
"I have friends — they produced blue jeans. But they don't have clients in the United States, so they [are] broke," he says, adding that many of the workers lost their jobs.
He has opened a center in one of Puebla's poorest neighborhoods, offering a food bank and a free clinic.
Puebla is proud of its local culture. But it is easy to see the interdependence with the giant economy to the north. There is a Starbucks there, and a Sears store. And Wal-Mart has more than 60 outlets in Puebla.
Hopes For A Recovery
Despite the downturn, some entrepreneurs like Francisco Rivera insist that economic integration has been good for his country.
"Well, we always say that it's like we sleep with an elephant. The American economy is the strongest in the world. I think that you have the structure to get out of the water sooner than the other countries, no?" says Rivera, who runs a family-owned textile manufacturing business.
On a recent day, his workers were packaging hats, scarves, baby clothes and a lot of socks — 720,000 pairs a month.
The company is licensed to brand products with some of the most recognizable American names — New Balance, Barbie and M&Ms. Sales have been steady because his high-quality products are sold in the Mexican market, not to the U.S.
Rivera believes Mexico has to update the U.S. partnership and offer more than cheap labor and goods. He turns out quality by investing in his employees, he says.
Every worker takes English classes offered after each shift, so they understand the complex programs on the high-tech knitting machines.
Rivera wants to expand to the U.S. market but says the Mexican government has failed to adopt policies to offer more credit and business loans to help him compete.
Mexico's recovery depends on more business with the U.S., he says. The recession will end, and trade with the United States will pick up, he adds.
"Yeah, because this problem is going to be normal in one and a half years. No more. It's the best market in the world, I think," Rivera says.
Deborah Amos' report comes courtesy of America Abroad, a monthly public radio international affairs program.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-25-2009, 01:27 PM
Rim05 Rim05 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: So CA
Posts: 1,222
Default

Quote:
'You know what? I just want to go back home.' But they can't — they are stuck here in New York," Castro says.
The Leaches found a way to get here so they should be able to get home. How about WALKING?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-25-2009, 05:39 PM
Eagle1 Eagle1 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: NOTAZTLAN
Posts: 406
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rim05 View Post
The Leaches found a way to get here so they should be able to get home. How about WALKING?
I agree! If they can sneak in they can certainly walk back openly without
anyone trying to catch them.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:46 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright SaveOurState ©2009 - 2016 All Rights Reserved