Mexico City, December 12.- The wages of day laborers working in some agro-export units—especially in Baja California—have improved and are higher than those received by other manual workers in that sector, but their working conditions remain precarious, and they lack access to basic services for their families.
This was confirmed by university researchers who conducted a study on the topic , who highlighted that Mexico's trade surplus within the USMCA is primarily due to profits from the food export sector.
Agustín Escobar, a professor at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, emphasized that the agricultural export industry is experiencing one of its busiest periods in history, which has led to at least 700,000 workers, equivalent to the number of workers in the automotive industry.
Likewise, he detailed that agricultural exports to the United States have increased by more than 800 percent in volume and 1,000 percent in constant value over the course of 30 years. The increase has been such that, in 2020, 51 percent of all fruits and vegetables imported into the United States came from Mexico.
However, their working conditions remain inadequate to warrant decent living conditions, and they still lack access to basic services for their families, such as childcare, which limits women's equal participation and perpetuates gender pay gaps, said Omar Stabridis, a researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte.
Meanwhile, José Eduardo Calvario of El Colegio de Sonora emphasized that wages are only one aspect of the working conditions of agricultural workers , who continue to be exposed to agrochemicals, extreme weather conditions, accidents, and a lack of basic services.
