• MIGRATION: Some 30,000 truck drivers have left Mexico for the US during the past years attracted by higher wages and less highway crime according to estimates by Mexico’s National Chamber of Freight Transportation (CANACAR).
• WAGES: Since the late 2000s, US companies have actively recruited Mexican drivers in an effort to cope with a shortage of truckers. However, Mexico also faces a 50,000 driver shortage with many of them leaving for the US where they can earn three times what they make per month (the equivalent of US $2,000).
• INSECURITY: “But the most important thing is that (in the US) they do not face the problems of insecurity that they do here. There they have good roads, rest areas and other advantages”, said Jesús Tamez, president of Monterrey-based firm Transervicios Logísticos del Norte (TNL).
• NUMBERS: Some Mexican transportation firms have made double-digit wage increases with the hope to retain workers but the economic recovery underway in the US could complicate matters. Mexican government figures shows there were 172,000 truck operators in 2000.
