Did an "Economic Boom" in Mexico Cause the Decline in Undocumented Immigration?

[An otherwise informative article in the New York Times on July 6 claimed that "Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North." But in fact the Mexican economy took a big hit in 2009 because of the US recession, and the current "economic boom" is actually just a partial recovery. Poverty remains a serious problem in Mexico. -- Blog editor]

Is the Mexican Economy Booming?
By Fred Rosen, Mexico, Bewildered and Contested (NACLA blog)
July 19, 2011

Mexico’s Secretary of the Treasury, Ernesto Cordero, recently provoked some outrage when he announced that Mexico “was no longer a poor country.” Mexico, he tweeted to the press, echoing the line of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), “is now a middle income country.”

Well, maybe. Gross domestic product is growing but so—as opposition politicians were quick to point out—is the measured rate of poverty and the number of people eking out a living in the informal sector of the economy. Cordero’s claim has been received with little credibility in Mexico, but with a great deal of interest in the United States, which has a stake, for a number of reasons, in Mexican stability. [...]

Read the full article:
https://nacla.org/blog/mexican-economy-booming

Mexico lags in regional economic growth
By Tracy Wilkinson, La Plaza (Los Angeles Times blog)
July 15, 2011

Mexico is near the bottom of the barrel in economic growth projections for Latin America, a new report says.

The report, by the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, which is also known by its Spanish acronym, CEPAL), is an annual assessment of the state of economies, what's driving, or slowing, growth, the impact of fiscal and trade policies, and the like. [...]

Read the full article:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/07/mexico-lags-in-regional-economic-growth.html

Mexico: The Economy Is Down and the Cartels Are Hiring
Weekly News Update on the Americas
July 17, 2011

The average income of Mexican households fell by 12.3% between 2008 and 2010, the government’s National Statistics and Geography Institute (INEGI) reported on July 15. The richest households generally lost the most in percentages, but poorer households suffered more because their income was already so low, according to the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure, which the INEGI conducts every two years. The decline in income reflects a 6.1% contraction of the Mexican economy in 2009 in the midst of a world economic crisis that started in the US; the Mexican economy recovered partially in 2010 with a 5.4% expansion. (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/16/11) [...]

Read the full article:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/07/wnu-1088-students-and-copper-workers.html