Labor Market and Emigration from Mexico during the world economic recession

This document shows the changes in the Mexico-US migration patterns that can be attributed to the recent world economic crisis, which severely affected the US economy and, as a consequence, the Mexican too. Even though the recently released Mexican Census shows a greater rate of return for Mexican emigrants, there is no evidence of a massive return of Mexicans living in the US, but the flow of workers to the northern country has decreased considerably. The data presented here clearly shows that emigration to the US has made employment possible to the excess of Mexican population in working ages, generated by the demographic moment. The analysis shows that Mexicans in the US hold above average educational levels, and increasing for the younger generations. The loss of highly educated Mexicans may imply an additional challenge to the Mexican labor market and can also contribute to increasing earning inequalities. Nonetheless, taking advantage of labor market complementarities may enhance the capability of North America as a region to compete in the world economy in the future and, more importantly, may reduce the wellbeing of the citizens on both sides of the border