Mexico hit by slow growth despite its booming car industry, rising exports

Mexico City

MEXICO'S booming automobile industry is generating more export dollars than oil, building more cars than Brazil and giving a job to Esmeralda Velazquez. What it isn't doing is raising her living standards.

The 37-year-old machine operator at an auto suspension plant earns US$295 per month - not enough to afford a telephone service or separate beds for her two daughters, let alone a computer or car. Pay raises have barely kept pace with inflation since she began working in the industry 15 years ago, she said.