Work in Mexico

Abstract In this article, several interrelated factors that influence occupational development opportunities in Mexico [Figure 1] are discussed. First, relevant demographic information from 1995 Mexican census is presented. Particular emphasis is given to age, ethnicity, and increased urbanization. Second, recent economic and political developments are considered. Mexico's post-World War II economic miracle finally went bust with peso devaluation in December 1994. On January 1 of that year, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico went into effect. That same day, an armed uprising in southern state of Chiapas drew worldwide attention to Mexico's disenfranchised indigenous peoples. Recently, seventy years of one-party, national rule has come to an end in Mexico, leaving great uncertainty about future. Third, research on pervasive gender and social class differences in educational attainment and occupational achievement is examined. Finally, inextricable link between work in Mexico and U. S. immigration policy is discussed. Introduction Demographics, pure and simple, have had and will continue to have a huge impact on occupational development in Mexico. According to The World Almanac and Book of Facts (2001), United Mexican States [Estados Unidos Mexicanos, E.U.M.], as Mexico is officially known, had a population of 100.4 million people as of 1995. This represents an explosive 66 per cent rate of growth from 1975 (Cortes, 1980). Mexico's population is predominantly young, with 33.8 per cent less than 15 years old; this demographic fact alone has enormous implications for future educational attainment and occupational achievement of young Mexicanos. Only 4.3 per cent of Mexicanos are 65 years old and older. Like age, ethnicity has implications for work in Mexico. The country is 60 per cent Mestizo, 30 per cent Amerindian, and 9 per cent Caucasian (The World Almanac, 2001). Mestizos have both Amerindian (i.e., indigenous) and Caucasian (i.e., European, primarily Spanish) blood, and vary in complexion from dark brown to olive to fairskinned, reflecting their ancestral genetic mix (Peterson & Gonzalez, 2000, p. 410). This range in complexion, sometimes called phenotype, is quite common among offspring of same set of Mestizo parents. Darker complected, indigenous-looking Mexicanos are less likely to match educational attainment and occupational achievement of their lighter complected, European-looking siblings. (See also, Arce, Murguia, & Frisbie, 1987.) In Mexico-as in U.S.A. and in Central and South American countries with darker complected Mestizos and indigenous peoples-racism is both an historical and current reality. (See, for example, Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries [1990], pp. 432-433. See also Las Castas Mexicanas/Art and Social Structure in Colonial Mexico/Terminologia [hand-out, available from Roberta Cortez Gonzalez]). Fully three-fourths of Mexico's people live in urban areas (The World Almanac, 2001). The nation's capital, Mexico City, is a teeming megacity of 16 million people (Parfit, 1996a). More recent estimates put metropolitan population at 20 million people (Ai Camp, 2000). Guadalajara, capital of state of Jalisco, is Mexico's second largest city (Parfit, 1996b), with a metropolitan area population of 4 million people. Cities in northern Mexico, especially along Border with U.S., have shown most recent growth. Monterrey, capital of state of Nuevo Leon, has 3 million people (Parfit, 1996e). Juarez, in state of Chihuahua and directly across Border from El Paso, TX, has 1.5 million people (Bowden, 1998). Indeed, Juarez and El Paso, with their combined population of 2 million people (La nueva frontera/The New Frontier, 2001), constitute the most heavily populated metropolitan area on any international border in entire world (Draper, 1995, p. …

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