Facts & Figures

Contrary to NAFTA’s stated objectives, the Mexican economy has failed in its promise to create quality jobs and to address the erratic and feeble growth of workers’ income. Mexico’s global trade deficit is growing despite its increasing trade surplus with the United States, and the race to the bottom set off by NAFTA has meant nothing better than low-wage work for most Mexican workers, while benefiting large companies, the financial sector, and a thin layer of administrative and professional workers who are earning high salaries. Employment has become increasingly precarious overall, the agricultural sector has suffered a large and steady loss of employment, and real salaries remain below the levels of the early 1990s, as Mexico’s dependence on global imports grows.