Texas Border Employment and Maquiladora Growth Jesus Cañas, Roberto Coronado and Robert W. Gilmer magazine Now Courtesy of Mexico In the 1990s, the Texas economy increased retail sales in U.S. border cities; the industry lose 290,000 jobs between exceeded even the remarkable perform- and rapid expansion of the maquiladora October 2000 and July 2003, many ance of its U.S. counterpart. State job industry. observers are questioning the industry’s Igrowth averaged 2.9 percent per year from Maquiladora expansion came on the future. Recession, rising wages in Mexico, 1990 to 2000, well ahead of the 1.8 percent heels of NAFTA implementation and the low-wage competition from countries annual increases in the United States. 1994–95 peso devaluation. In recent such as China and Mexico’s inability to Three engines drove the Texas economy years, however, this part of the border deal with growing problems in its compet- forward in the 1990s: the oil sector, high boom has turned to bust. After watching itive environment have all contributed to tech (especially in Austin and Dallas) and a boom in border-city employment. Table 1 Percent Job Growth Along the Texas–Mexico Border Employment growth in the four largest Texas border cities topped that of the Texas El Paso Laredo Brownsville McAllen nation, and the three south Texas cities 1991 .7 2.3 4.3 2.0 1.5 outperformed the state by a wide margin 1992 1.9 3.6 8.7 4.8 5.3 1993 3.3 2.2 3.6 4.4 4.5 (Table 1).1 1994 4.3 3.9 7.2 6.0 7.3 The accelerated job growth along the 1995 2.9 0 –5.5 .4 2.7 Texas–Mexico border was the result of 1996 3.2 2.0 5.1 2.8 3.3 several factors: a quick Mexican recovery 1997 4.4 2.7 7.6 3.0 3.8 after the 1994–95 financial crisis; tight 1998 3.6 1.1 2.7 2.3 5.6 labor markets in the United States that 1999 2.2 2.0 5.3 5.8 6.5 attracted employers to the border in 2000 2.8 1.5 3.0 5.1 5.1 1990–2000 2.9 2.1 4.1 3.7 4.6 search of the region’s surplus labor; a strong peso for much of the period, which SOURCE: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch, with data from the Texas Workforce Commission. OCTOBER 2005 | FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF DALLAS 27 Chart 1 2). Throughout the latest recession and Maquiladora Employment Growth slow recovery, manufacturing was the Thousands, seasonally adjusted data hardest hit part of the U.S. economy, and 1,400 maquiladora output and employment 1,300 1,200 generally followed the lead of U.S. indus- 1,100 trial production. In mid-2003, however, 1,000 strong U.S. industrial growth finally 900 800 returned, and as Table 2 shows, maqui- 700 ladora employment has returned to re- 600 covery as well. Job growth remains 500 400 uneven among the Mexican border cities, 300 however, with Ciudad Acuña, Matamoros 200 and Piedras Negras recovering more 100 0 slowly. ’80 ’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87 ’88 ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 SOURCES: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch, with data from INEGI. How Do Maquladoras Affect the Texas Border Economy? The original vision for maquiladoras the recent downturn. Tyco, General Electric and ITT. was the “twin plant,” with capital-inten- This article looks at the maquiladora’s The maquiladora industry has been sive operations located a few miles inside role in today’s Texas economy, especially highly cyclical since its inception, falling the U.S. border and low-wage, labor- how it affects Texas border cities. We also into its first recession in 1974 with an 11.5 intensive operations close by on the Mex- assess the industry’s future and the percent decline in employment. Table 2 ican side. However, the bulk of U.S. man- prospects for the maquiladora to again be shows the uneven effects of the latest ufacturing was already established in the a significant factor in job growth in Texas maquiladora downturn on Mexican bor- Midwest, and trucking deregulation and Mexico. der cities. Maquiladora employment in would make transportation links between Ciudad Juárez was higher than in all the the border and the Midwest both easier Growth and Decline other cities combined when the recession and cheaper in the 1970s and ’80s. The The maquiladora industry began in began, and it has sustained the largest twin-plant vision was never realized along 1965 and experienced slow but steady percentage losses from peak to trough the border. Instead, the maquiladora sup- growth under the Border Industrialization (27.7 percent). Piedras Negras, Nuevo ply chain remained concentrated in states Program. The canceled Bracero Program Laredo and Matamoros also suffered large such as Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. had used Mexican labor in agriculture, percentage losses, all in excess of 24 per- What economic impact would a new and the replacement maquiladora was cent. Ciudad Acuña and Reynosa were maquiladora in Mexico have on a neigh- designed to relieve the resulting high exceptions to the deep recession, with boring U.S. city? The list might run as fol- unemployment rates in northern Mexico. Ciudad Acuña declining only 10.6 percent lows. To select and develop a site, U.S. The new program used low-wage Mexican and Reynosa continuing to grow through- legal, engineering and financial assistance labor as a lure to draw U.S. manufacturing out the downturn. Newer plants, a better would be used. Once established, the new to the region, allowing companies to industry mix and a business-friendly plant would rely on U.S.-based businesses move production machinery and environment account for their better per- for customs, brokerage, warehousing and unassembled parts into Mexico without formance. transportation services. The plant would tariff consequences, as long as the assem- The cyclical nature of the maquila- also purchase a variety of office, packag- bled product was returned to the United dora industry is not surprising, given ing and industrial supplies. Corporate States for final sale. its close ties to U.S. manufacturing (Chart management, engineers and quality spe- Chart 1 shows the elevenfold increase in maquiladora employment between Table 2 1980 and its peak in 2000, from 120,000 Texas–Mexico Maquiladora Border Employment workers to 1.3 million. In 1980, about 94 Peak Trough percent of maquiladora employment was Jobs Date Jobs Date April 2005 in the border states of northern Mexico.2 Ciudad Juárez 262,550 October 2000 189,930 June 2003 213,389 Today, the share has slipped to 76 percent, Ciudad Acuña 37,512 November 2002 33,541 February 2005 33,674 but the northern states still dominate. In Piedras Negras 15,222 February 2000 10,939 December 2004 11,187 2004, 2,810 operating plants accounted Nuevo Laredo 22,915 February 2000 17,171 April 2003 22,233 for about 9 percent of formal employment Reynosa 86,925 April 2005 N/A N/A N/A in Mexico, or 3 percent of the total labor Matamoros 68,413 October 2000 51,900 August 2003 53,002 force. The companies operating under the NOTES: Seasonally adjusted data; border twin cities are as follows: Ciudad Juárez–El Paso, Ciudad Acuña–Del Rio, Piedras Negras–Eagle maquiladora program are a who’s who of Pass, Nuevo Laredo–Laredo, Reynosa–McAllen and Matamoros–Brownsville. U.S. industry, including Delphi, Mattel, SOURCE: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch, with data from INEGI. 28 FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF DALLAS | OCTOBER 2005 Chart 2 research suggests that U.S. border warehousing employment accelerated Maquiladora Ties to states—with the exception of Arizona, quickly. Business service employment, U.S. Industrial Sector where job losses ranged from negligible to especially personnel supply services, Index, January 2000 = 100, seasonally adjusted small—gained jobs as a result of growth in computer programming and data pro- 110 the maquiladora industry.8 cessing, grew 45 percent from 1990 to U.S. industrial 105 A more recent development has been 2004. El Paso’s maquiladora-related busi- production the arrival of component parts and mate- nesses rely heavily on temporary staffing 100 rial suppliers in U.S. border cities. Specific agencies to hire additional personnel to 95 examples can be found in El Paso, neigh- meet rising demand. Computer program- 90 Maquiladora bor to Ciudad Juárez, which is home to the ming and data service workers help mini- employment largest number of maquiladora employ- mize the burden of paperwork required by 85 ees along the U.S. border. Over the past customs agencies to export or import 80 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 decade, an increasing number of rubber components. Legal employment grew 20 SOURCES: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch, with data and plastics, electronics and electrical percent over the same period. Similar from INEGI; Federal Reserve Board. equipment, and metal fabricating plants results can be found up and down the U.S. have begun to operate in El Paso to serve border. cialists would be drawn to the border to as suppliers to the maquiladora industry The definitive study on the linkages visit this plant, and they would spend (Chart 3). between maquiladoras and the border money on food and lodging.3 Maquiladora Components supplied include com- economy, by Gordon Hanson, takes all employees draw their salary in Mexico but puter housings, electrical wiring har- these factors into account.9 Hanson esti- do a significant share of their shopping in nesses, special dies and tools, and electri- mates that a 10 percent increase in the United States, stimulating employ- cal switches.