Inversión Extranjera Directa y empleo en México: análisis sectorial

The aim of the paper is to determine the effect of foreign direct investment in labor in economic sectors of Mexico, economy that since the late nineties receives substantial foreign capital flows as part of increasing globalization. Despite the significant participation of foreign investment in second sector, the direct labor created have been limited compared to the service sector who had received less amounts of this type of investment. The analysis is performed for the period 1980-2014, following a cointegration methodology which includes estimation of short run error coefficients. Decapitalization and return problems have originated that primary sector became a net ejector of workforce. It is found that fdi employment elasticity in primary activities is negative. Also, it is observed a relative low growth of employment in industrial sector and a faster growth in service sector. Similarly, the long term response of employment to changes in fdi is higher in tertiary sector than in secondary. However, in the short run industrial fdi has a positive effect bigger than services fdi. Actually, foreign investment tends to destabilize further the employment in the tertiary sector. In any case, fdi is fundamental to the sectoral distribution of employment in Mexico, both in the short and long terms.