Export Assembly Operations in Mexico and the Caribbean

Abstract

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Environment, Health, and Gender in Latin America: Trends and Research Issues

“…Appearing on a small scale in the Caribbean in the mid 1960s, EPZs became part of the 1965 U.S.±Mexico Border Industrialization Program, intended to stem the tide of Mexican migrant laborers who had worked in the United States since the World War II labor shortage, under the``Bracero'' program (Schoep£e, 1990;Fox, 1996).…”

“…Today EPZs employ a signi¢cant portion of the manufacturing labor force in Barbados, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as well as Mexico (Schoep£e, 1990). Although in-bond arrangements are also used for the development of tourist zones, most involve industrial assembly operations.…”

“…This average wage includes the substantially higher pay received by managers and administrative sta¡, however, and many maquila workers are paid far less (Schoep£e, 1990;Moure-Eraso et al, 1997;CEPAL, 1996a,b). Yet, especially during times of high unemployment, even these low wages may exceed what is earned by many of the 57% of the Mexican work force who are employed in the nonagricultural informal sector (ILO, 1997a,b).…”

“…Many peopleÐespecially women and children working at home or in microenterprisesÐwork for the assembly plants through subcontracting arrangements (Schoep£e, 1990). It is not clear what proportion of these workers are included in the available data.…”

“…However, this would seem to refer to women workers who meet certain criteria. The vast majority of the women employed in the maquiladoras are 16 to 25 years old, and young, unskilled women are hired preferentially over older women (Schoep£e, 1990).The widespread industry practice of requiring pregnancy tests of women job applicants is notorious, as are demands that other forms of proof be given monthly that they have not become pregnant (Je¡erson, 1996). Industries thereby avoid the expense of complying with legally mandated maternity leave (enforced, it would entitle women to 100% pay for 84 days), with which even non-unionized workers are familiar.…”