Maquiladora industry picks up after recession

The maquiladora industry in Reynosa is recovering from a steady decline it experienced during the economic recession, according to Mexican statistics.

Export-related employment there grew by about 1,000 jobs in May, up from 76,000 jobs the month before, according to the most recent data available from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, known by its Spanish acronym INEGI.

Reynosa maquilas had as few as 69,000 jobs in May 2009.

Five U.S. companies opened shop in Reynosa this year and boosted employment there, said Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corp.

“Then we have the existing companies that are pulling production capabilities into plants in Reynosa,” Patridge said. “Cost there is cheaper.”

Overall, municipalities in Tamaulipas — which had a steep drop in export-related employment during the recessionary period — have seen significant industry job growth since mid-2009.

Economic indicators for maquiladoras were lost when INEGI stopped publishing statistics on the twin-plant industry in December 2006.

Since then, Mexico’s Economy Ministry has combined maquiladoras with homegrown exporters under an industry category dubbed “Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportacion.”

The government agency withheld industry statistics until January and has since then updated monthly data on its website on a semi-regular basis.

Mexico had more than 1.6 million maquila jobs as of December 2009, according to INEGI data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Juárez, Tijuana and Reynosa represent 23 percent of the total. Because new data includes other exporters with maquiladoras, interior cities such as Apodaca and Mexico City now rank in the top five in terms of number of jobs.

Export-related employment in Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo remained stagnant during the past four years. The number of maquiladoras and homegrown exporters in Tamaulipas has not changed significantly during that period.