MEXICO: MAQUILADORA MANUFACTURING EXPORT INDUSTRIES
Table 4. Hourly compensation costs for ALL EMPLOYEES in maquiladora manufacturing, 1997-2006: pesos
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INDUSTRY
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
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All Maquiladora Manufacturing..................
17.37
21.10
24.94
28.50
33.29
37.05
38.35
39.31
41.48
43.88
Food and Related Products......................
11.68
14.44
17.94
21.32
26.72
38.81
32.19
35.69
39.18
41.98
Apparel and Other Textile Products.............
10.42
12.53
15.13
17.27
20.47
23.96
24.76
25.57
26.97
28.07
Footwear and Leather Products..................
13.99
16.06
20.37
22.93
32.74
35.73
40.21
45.00
43.74
40.47
Chemicals and Chemical Products................
17.24
20.77
25.49
30.70
33.61
38.19
37.48
39.46
43.06
45.12
Machinery and Equipment Excluding Electric.....
20.66
25.31
28.84
35.60
40.38
40.52
48.37
49.29
44.00
45.05
Electric and Electronic Equipment..............
19.60
24.22
28.32
32.12
38.33
41.07
42.44
42.29
44.60
47.11
Transportation Equipment.......................
21.12
25.47
30.93
34.77
40.14
44.28
44.45
46.09
48.41
49.55
Furniture and Fixtures.........................
17.45
21.54
26.54
30.87
34.50
37.32
39.25
40.55
41.96
45.07
Toys and Sporting Goods........................
17.37
21.52
23.40
27.71
35.48
41.21
31.99
37.64
39.26
38.71
Other Manufacturing............................
16.83
20.62
24.67
28.75
32.78
36.41
38.89
39.41
41.01
43.57
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See notes below.
Notations:
..     Data not available.
#      Break in series. Data are not comparable with data from the previous year.
(1) A "maquiladora" refers to a Mexican firm (often foreign-owned) operating under a special customs program
that allows the maquiladora to temporarily import into Mexico on a duty free (in-bond) basis capital and
intermediary goods needed for the assembly or manufacture of goods or services for export.  Maquiladora data
presented in the tables reflect only maquiladora manufacturing.
(2) Data source: INEGI Estadistica de la Industria Maquiladora de Exportacion (Maquiladora Export Industry
Statistics).  
(3) Compensation cost estimates for maquiladoras are based on the coverage and definitions explained in the
Technical Notes portion of the news release entitled “International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs
in Manufacturing” at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ichcc.pdf.  Coverage and definitions for maquiladora
compensation measures, however, deviate from this general description in the following ways: (a) data are
reported according to Mexico’s unique industry classification for maquiladora establishments; (b) production
workers in maquiladora manufacturing exclude supervisors and technical production workers involved in
supervisory, quality control, and other managerial tasks; (c) compensation data include employer expenditures
for daycare and educational services.  
(4) Maquiladora manufacturing data are reported according to Mexico's unique industry classification for
maquiladora establishments.  For this reason, compensation cost data for maquiladoras are not directly
comparable to compensation cost data for Mexican manufacturing published in the BLS report "Hourly
Compensation Costs for All Employees in Manufacturing, 32 Countries or Areas, 22 Manufacturing
Industries."  Data for Mexico in this latter report are presented according to the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS).
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 28, 2008