The Key To Survival Cheap Labor Program Draws Growing Number Of Companies

The maquiladora program allows foreign companies to set up manufacturing operations in Mexico, taking advantage of low labor costs and providing jobs.

Maquiladora means “in-bond.” When the program started in 1965, foreign companies posted bonds to guarantee their products would be immediately exported and would not compete with Mexico’s economy.

Some of the first U.S. companies in the program were RCA, Chrysler and General Motors subsidiaries.

With the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, the maquiladora program was expanded throughout Mexico.

Today, 2,823 maquiladora factories employ 950,000 people. Many of the parent companies are among the Fortune 500.

Asian companies also have a large presence in Mexico.

Juarez has the greatest concentration of maquiladora workers, at 200,000. That number has increased 48 percent since 1990 and 381 percent since 1980.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Total maquiladora factories and workers in Ciudad Juarez