How Do Maquiladoras Relate To Cheap Labor And Low Economic Opportunities

Being a neighbor to the maquiladoras industry for a very large portion of my life, never stopped to wonder what was the purpose of the maquiladoras? How do maquiladoras relate to cheap labor and low economic opportunities? Can the pros and cons of the maquiladora industry affect the global economies? Could our health be affected by the maquilas? Also, regarding the placement of these industries- does it affect the infrastructure of our border cities?

The maquiladora industry has had a major impact on the lives of its employees. A documentary from 2006 Maquilapolis, by Vicky Funario and Sergio de la Torre, show different women talking about the type of products they assemble, from filters, toys, batteries, and electrical parts to automobile

She would like to remain anonymous for the safety of her job. We discussed the treatment she received at work, her health and how years working for the company have contributed to some of her health issues. We also talked about her salary. The company’s headquarters is located in Michigan and they have a couple of maquiladoras around the nation. I asked her why it was important that this corporation or maquiladora was located here in El Paso. She disclosed that the trade and exchange was between their headquarters, and Juarez, Mexico. They needed a location where it was more cost effective to transport their product instead of sending it to their headquarters each time, the product delivery was fast and gave them the advantage to produce more labor and products to distribute. It was really important for the company to be close to a border city because of cheap labor. They had Mexicans come to work in the United States for lower paying jobs. She has been a part of the company for eight years, working over twelve hours a day, constant back problems and standing for long periods of time. Trouble with her hands have been issues lately, due to the fact that she has been working a lot with her hands, assembling parts for long hours. She believes strong smells in the air of the maquiladora have given her breathing problems as well, causing her allergies and a chronic cough. So my question to her

market and distribution centers, practical transportation infrastructure and lastly world-class production facilities. Globalization is a big contributor to this topic, these companies expand all over the world and along with their capital, comes their impact on the environment and health. In the “Pros of Maquiladoras Economic Growth” article talks about the 900,000 job opportunities being created through the maquiladora industry. Many of these people would otherwise be unemployed. When Mexico suffered from the recession in the 1980s the border regions earned enough to stay stable. As other industries when to bankrupt, maquiladoras profited. NAFTA, which is the North American Free Trade Agreement, contributed to the expansion of the maquiladora industries in the early 1990s resulting in an increase in the maquiladora job market. When American companies started to set up in large numbers, multi-party democracies began to dominate the northern part of Mexico. With the additional influence of American ideals, Mexico’s maquiladoras have strengthened both cities. In the midst of the early 1990s and early 2000s, the growth between that time span for maquiladoras had an annual average rate of 10%. In 1984 employment in maquiladoras had increased from 180,000 workers to 1.1 million workers. By 2000, the maquiladoras sector had achieved about 48% of Mexico’s