New Report on Mexican Workers

The Wall Street Journal Online reporrts that one in seven Mexican workers, or 14% of the Mexican labor force, was in the U.S. in 2005, and that number probably has increased in the past year.  A new report of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington research group comes to this conclusion and also said those workers sent home $20 billion in remittances in 2005, equal to almost 3% of Mexico’s gross domestic product. The report describes the typical Mexican worker as a male under age 45 who is far likelier to be in the labor force than are U.S.-born men or even other foreign-born residents. Almost one-third of Mexican-immigrant workers were in service industries and almost one-quarter were in construction in 2005. Mexicans accounted for 5% of the U.S. labor force. The report also highlights a concern about the fast-growing Mexican workforce: Its generally low education level, which means that most Mexican immigrants are stuck in low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Only 5.8% of Mexican workers had a bachelor’s degree compared to 33% of U.S.-born workers.   Click here for the link.

KJ