Hi,

I am trying to find some solid statistics on what the average wages
are for apparel manufacturing workers in Mexico.  I would like the
statistics to be from 2003 or later.  I know that Mexicos minimum wage
is around $4.25 and that the minimum wages are split into three zones
in Mexico, Zones A, B, and C.

The statistics should be from a goverment source(preferably).  I would
also like to know where the cheapest labor in Mexico is found.

So my questions are: "Can you find a verifiable source that list the
average apparel manufacturing workers daily wage from the year 2003
and later" adn "Where in Mexico is the cheapest labor found for
manufacturing apparel"

Thank you,

Josh

Let me say first I am in Mexico as I type, a very low income part of
the nation. The man who is building our house earns $25 USD a day, and
his family does well on that income, as hard as it is to believe.

I am not going to even attempt to answer your question as asked. I
hope you don't start a factory in Mexico with that attitude.

Having worked in a US factory for over 30 years, though, I am not
ignorant of all issues. There is a misconception of the true
significance of production labor costs. The high-tech factory where I
worked, production labor costs were only 7% of all expenses. yet,
management, who often made ten or twenty times what the production
workers made, constantly ranted about reducing labor costs.

This makes no sense, unless we realize a lot of people misunderstand
the income statements.  there is a complex breakdown of labor;
materials; overhead, support salaries; etc. yet in the end, PROFIT
EQUALS ALL REVENUES MINUS ALL EXPENSES. Period.      A dollar paid to
an office person has the same effect on profitablity as a dollar paid
to a production worker. A dollar spent to send a management person to
Mexico has the same effect on profitability as a dollar paid to a
production worker.

When you hire minimum wage Mexicans, you are getting a relatively
uneducated, undisciplined work force.  They are unstable; unreliable;
and do not understand quality. This is not because they are Mexicans.
This is because they are from a group which will work for minimum
wage, and you get what you pay for.

Total costs include costs of sending your management folks to Mexico;
costs of translators because your management is not really set up to
do business in mexico, and also shipping costs to your customers,
which I assume will be in North America or Europe.

it is ignorance which says it is okay to pay large amounts of money on
these other things, as long as you get sweat shop labor costs.

I have strong feelings about worker exploitation. My "foster daughter"
is from Durango. she went back for a visit a few years ago, and talked
to an old classmate from school. She had started working at one of the
local maquiladoras. After a few weeks, she realized she did not make
enough money to pay for daily transportation, AND pay for the food she
was eating, not to mention new clothes or any other rewards for a hard
day in the factory so you can get a big annual bonus.

Is this what you seek?

Haha, that was quite the speech! Let me start of by saying this; I
completely agree with you.  Yes, I do want to start a small factory in
central/south america.  Yes, I want to find workers who are lack
education, people who live in shacks made of tin metal and 2x4's with
a dirt floor, where the man makes $4 a day trying to feed a family of
4, 5 or 6.

I would like to find these people and have them manufacture clothing
so that I can ship them to North America and Europe.

However, where you make the mistake is in your preassumptions.  Around
8 months ago I went with a group of 10 people to Antigua, Guatemala. 
We went down there on a Christian missions trip to help a man that had
a wife and young daughter.  They lived in a tin-metal 2x4 shack with a
dirt floor.  It was probably a total of 20'x10'.  About 20 yards from
their shack they were building a home out of cinder-blocks.  He has
been working on this home (which is maybe 20x20 ft) for over a year. 
Anyone who works in construction knows that a 20x20 ft home with VERY
little electrical and plumbing work should be up within several solid
weeks(with minute help).  But, since he has a job working construction
and cannot take much time off because he only makes $4 a day, he never
has time to work on his house. (please keep in mind his job isn't a
9-5 type).

Onto the story.....So while I was laying cinder-block I had an idea. 
I thought to myself 'I work at a manufacturing company, and I've done
some importing for this company.  I've also worked in the sales end,
and the production end.  In fact, I've experienced a wide range of the
manufacturing spectrum.' And then I thought 'I really enjoy helping
Antonio and his family.  I wonder if I could start an apparel
manufacturing company thats primary focus is helping the men and women
like Antonio.  I would love to provide them with a job that pays
enough to help ensure better quality living conditions.'

Now, since I know a bit about manufacturing, and since I know a few
things about apparel and style.  I figure why not do something that
takes everything I love to do and roll it into one.  So, I came up
with this.  I would start a manufacturing company that produces
clothing that is sent to the USA and Europe and I would take the
proceeds and split them between helping the workers and their
community and supporting the companies growth to expand to other small
communities.

In order to do that I need to find a place in Mexico so that I can
take advantage of NAFTA, but I also need a place where labor is lower.
 This way I can pay people a wage that is higher than others and still
keep my costs low enough to expand the company.  The larger the
company the more people it can employ.  The more profit on the
product, the more money put back into the workers and their community.

I would love to be able to build these people houses that are nice,
and provide their children with their neccesities.  That is my
ultimate goal, not so that I "can get a big annual bonus".

I hope this clears things up ;)

Further information if you don't have it already.

Just today EL SOL DE PUEBLA had a business article that North American
investment would double if labor laws were "reformed".  Mexico has
changed in response to past exploitation by foreign companies, and it
is no longer an exploiter's paradise.

Also, if you open a factory, YOU don't decide how much to pay your
workers. The Labor Department decides by the nature of the job.  You
can't just open a factory and pay minimum wage to people expected to
learn and use complex sewing machines and put out quality work. The
labor department anaylyzes the work, and the skill and training
required, and tells you how much you will pay, and it's not going to
be $4.25 a day.

Here in my village there is enough poverty that some of our nearest
neighbors live in houses made of sticks with palm roofs. Yet, workers
at the local factories, which cut and shape rocks for sale as special
uses, earn 800 pesos a week, for six days and 8 hours a day.  Today,
the peso was 10.99 per dollar.  That comes out to over $12 USD a day,
or three times the minimum labor.

What next? Oh, yeah, each December you must give each worker an annual
bonus which is not optional, and tends to run around a month's pay.

Also, there is mandatory paid vacation.

A few years ago, North American companies started shutting down
maquiladoras and moving them to Asia, as labor laws tightened.  It was
in the Mexico City newspapers at the time.

There is another factor that is perhaps more important.  If you are in
a company which is thinking of opening a sweat shop here, don't
bother. One basic rule of investments is to never put your money any
place that you don't fully understand.  That includes opening
factories in other countries as well as the stock markets.

In the early Nineties, I saw for the first time in Mexico City a lot
of Japanese people. I asked my niece who was at the time executive
assistant to the president of the Mexico City, City Council
(translated). She said no one really knew, but they were living there,
going to the University, learning to speak fluent Spanish,  and
studying Mexican history and law and political science.

A few days after NAFTA (TLC in Spanish) was finally put in force, we
found out. Those Japanese companies had anticipated TLC and sent their
most promising young executives here, to learn Spanish, study Mexican
history, politics, and culture.

Also, they were told to make friends, especially educated, immportant
friends, and to see the sights, and to send the negatives to Japan.

Somewhere, they signed options for prime factory locations, and when
TLC went into effect, they were READY.

Later, a friend told me of a North America factory  (producing
somewhat ordinary products) here in Mexico. Not a fish or bug lived in
the river below the factory.  (That may be obsolete in 2005.) He said
when the environmental inspectors came, they no  longer received an
envelope as they left. At that time, there were negotiations months
ahead of time.

A few miles away was a Japanese factory which produced complex
chemicals, and not one drop of crud escaped that factory.

Now, If you can't send people here to learn the culture and economy
and law, your chances of succeeding are nil.

I worked in a factory in the US for 31 years. They tried to pick off
that slave labor at starvation wages, and couldn't make it work. They
blamed the workers, not their incompetent management people in charge.
But, my wife, who is Mexican, worked in their US factory, and made
both quality and quantity standards.

I remember for years it was said the reason Japanese cars were so much
better was that the US workers were just no good. Finally, Toyota and
Honda opened US factories with US workers, and the cars were just as
good as in Japan.  The real culprits were the management team.