Productivity falls.

During the last four years, Mexico increased its labor productivity by a mere 3.2% annually, compared with 8 to 11% in the emerging economies of Europe and Asia, according to a study of the Institute for Management Development (IMD). In 2000, the aggregated value achieved by each Mexican worker reached US$20,511 (adjusted by purchasing power parity). Four years later, that contribution was equivalent to US$23,294, a 13.6% increase during the same period. Nevertheless, Mexican growth was significantly lower than the average global increase, with an advance of 17.1% during these years.

Fernando Gonzalez Cantu, an economics analyst from BBVA Bancomer, told Mexico City newspaper Reforma that "China and India, the two leading countries in global productivity growth, are economies that have grown quickly with practically the same number of workers." Gonzalez Cantu added that the key for productivity increase is in the expansion of physical investment and the extension of industrial plants.

Analysts also state that necessary reforms include improved technology infrastructure, education and, of course, structural reforms. The low productivity growth in Mexico is more apparent when compared with countries such as Estonia and Poland, where the growth of the aggregated value per each worker had rates of 55.1 and 42.1 percent, respectively.

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