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

Published Tue, Nov 25, 2014 · 09:50 PM

    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.