Mexican Workers in the U.S. Send Less Money Home

The long financial crisis in the United States has severely affected the money sent home by citizens of Mexico, the Bank of Mexico said.

In August, the monthly growth of funds sent home was the worst on record, as the annual rate fell by 12.2 percent, according to data from the central bank.

The Bank of Mexico revealed yesterday that in August a total of 1.937 billion dollars were sent to Mexico by citizens abroad.

According to the bank, the increase in the U.S. unemployment rate “has affected Mexican immigrants greatly,” principally men, even though the overall rate is higher for women.

The bank added that the weakening of economic activity in the United States has been most pronounced in the economic sectors where Mexican migrants are employed, like the construction industry and the manufacturing sector.

Yesterday, Agustín Carstens, Secretary of Finance of Mexico, stated that the Mexican federal government is preparing a series of contingent measures to temper the effect of the crisis in the United States.

“President Calderón has instructed us, particularly me as Secretary of Finance, to analyze almost minute by minute the events as they take place and prepare, in case it is necessary, a series of contingency measures that will allow us to moderate the effects of this phenomenon that is occurring outside our border”, said the Secretary in Chihuahua, after attending the fourth report of the government of José Reyes Baeza, the state’s governor.

On the other hand, the Governor of Michoacán, Leonel Godoy, was confident that the transfers of funds “will not decline too much” and “there will not be a massive return of Michoacanos to this state. The potential return of citizens will be a national problem that will go away.”

Rodolfo de la Torre García, Director of the Office of Public Information for the Human Development of the United Nations Program for Development, said that the most profound effect of the decline in wire transfers will be felt in the states of Michoacán, Jalisco and Zacatecas.

He added that, faced with the decline in wire transfers, it is necessary to look for alternative sources of income.

According to the Bank of Mexico, between January and August 2008, the amount represented by the funds sent home amounted to 15.553 billion dollars, which represents a decline of 4.2% compared to the year before.