How Has NAFTA Affected Working People in the US and Mexico?
When NAFTA was under consideration by the US Congress, the agreement’s backers promised big job gains along both sides of the border. This hasn’t occurred.In the US, an estimated 766,000 jobs have disappeared since NAFTA as companies relocate to Mexico to take advantage of weaker labor standards and lower wages. When workers look for new jobs, they often end up in the service sector, where wages are 23 percent lower than in manufacturing. Also, unionization efforts are often undermined by threats to transfer production unless employees end their organizing attempts. According to a Cornell University study, two-thirds of manufacturing and communication companies faced with union organizing campaigns since NAFTA threatened workers with moving their jobs abroad.Workers in Mexico have also suffered from NAFTA. In December 1994 Mexico was forced to devalue the peso to attract the foreign investment needed for a free trade, export-oriented economy.
When NAFTA was under consideration by the US Congress, the agreement’s backers promised big job gains along both sides of the border. This hasn’t occurred. In the US, an estimated 766,000 jobs have disappeared since NAFTA as companies relocate to Mexico to take advantage of weaker labor standards and lower wages. When workers look for new jobs, they often end up in the service sector, where wages are 23 percent lower than in manufacturing. Also, unionization efforts are often undermined by threats to transfer production unless employees end their organizing attempts. According to a Cornell University study, two-thirds of manufacturing and communication companies faced with union organizing campaigns since NAFTA threatened workers with moving their jobs abroad. Workers in Mexico have also suffered from NAFTA. In December 1994 Mexico was forced to devalue the peso to attract the foreign investment needed for a free trade, export-oriented economy. This devastated the Mexican economy, push
