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DE RUEHME #5485/01 2901919
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R 171919Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0530
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 0464
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9237
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 005485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILSCR, WHA/MEX, EUR/ERA, DOL FOR ILAB 
PLEASE SENT TO USEU BRUSSELS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON CVIS SOCI PGOV PHUM PINR MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO AND SPAIN ANNOUNCE PILOT GUEST WORKER 
PROGRAM 
 
  ¶1. SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary:  On October 15, the governments of Mexico 
and Spain announced the establishment of a pilot program that 
would allow businesses in either country to contract an 
unlimited number of guest workers.  According to the GOM,s 
Secretary of Labor, the pilot program will begin in January 
 
SIPDIS 
of 2008 and will last for one year.  The program, which will 
be administered by the Labor Ministries of both countries, 
places no restrictions on the types of employment open to the 
quest workers.  No details were provided on how this pilot 
program will compliment or conflict with Spain,s employment 
related commitments to the European Union or how Spain,s EU 
partners will view a potential influx of Mexican guest 
workers.  In his remarks during the announcement of the pilot 
program, Mexico,s Secretary of Labor made a thinly veiled 
criticism of the US when he commented that building migration 
agreements was much more effective than building walls.  Most 
media observers described the pilot program in highly 
positive terms.  However, at least a few described the 
agreement as further recognition by Mexican President 
Calderon that his 2006 campaign promise of generating good 
jobs for Mexicans in Mexico is a long-term prospect, and in 
the meantime Mexicans will still need to immigrate.   End 
Summary. 
 
 
PILOT GUEST WORKER PROGRAM 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) On October 15, within the context of their VIII 
Bi-national Commission, the governments of Mexico and Spain 
announced the establishment of a pilot guest worker program. 
The program, which Mexico at least, announced to considerable 
fanfare, is expected to begin in January 2008 and will last 
one year.  According to public announcements made by 
Mexico,s Secretary of Labor, during the year the program 
will operate, businesses in either country will be able to 
contract an unlimited number of guest workers.  Reportedly no 
restrictions of any kind will be placed on the types of 
employment open to the two countries, guest workers.  As 
publicly described, employers from either country will be 
able to recruit qualified workers from each other,s labor 
market.  However, realistically speaking, most of those 
seeking employment via the pilot program will be Mexicans 
looking for work in Spain and not the other way around. 
 
¶4.  (U) The program itself will be administered by the Labor 
Ministries of both countries.  Once the program begins 
operating employers seeking guest workers will contact their 
countries, respective labor ministries providing the 
particulars of the number and qualifications of the employees 
they are seeking.  The labor ministries will then relay this 
information to their counterpart in the other country.   The 
receiving labor authorities will then be responsible for 
finding and screening suitable candidates for the available 
positions.  The cost of traveling to Spain (or occasionally 
Mexico) will be paid by the perspective worker with some 
limited assistance from his/her government.  The cost of 
returning the worker to their home country will be paid by 
the employer. 
 
 
THE FINE PRINT (OR LACK THEREOF) 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) In announcing the program Mexico,s Secretary of 
Labor, Javier Lozano, pointed out that legally speaking the 
agreement documents were actually a declaration of intent. 
Although Lozano told the Mexican press that the program would 
begin in January 2008, the written articles of the agreement 
do not give an actual starting date; the document simply 
indicates that the program will run for one year.  Lozano 
also stated that the program would be open to Spanish as well 
as Mexican workers but the actual agreement reportedly makes 
no specific commitment to allow Spaniards to work in Mexico. 
Nor does the document address in any way how this pilot 
program will compliment or conflict with Spain,s employment 
related commitments to the European Union or how Spain,s EU 
 
MEXICO 00005485  002 OF 003 
 
 
partners will view a potential influx of Mexican guest 
workers. 
 
¶6.  (U) Once the fanfare and expressions of good will are 
removed the signed agreement states only that: 1) 
participation in the program is free (although workers will 
have to pay most of their costs of traveling to Spain); 2) 
the qualifications needed for employment will be set by the 
employer and the length of employment will be negotiated 
between the employer and employee; 3) Mexican workers in 
Spain will accrue social security benefits that can be 
applied toward retirement in either country; 4) Mexican 
workers will not be required to depart Spain at the end of 
their employment contract and; 5) employers will be 
responsible for paying the costs of repatriating guest worker 
who wish to return home. 
 
 
UP WITH SPAIN; IMPLIED RASPBERRIES FOR THAT OTHER COUNTRY 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶7.  (U) The Mexican press provided extensive coverage of GOM 
Secretary of Labor, Javier Lozano,s, positive assessment of 
 
SIPDIS 
the pilot guest worker program with Spain.  While clearly 
acknowledging that the current agreement was only a pilot 
program Lozano also made clear the Mexican government,s 
hope/expectation that this would eventually become a 
permanent migration agreement.  Lozano repeatedly underscored 
that agreement would guarantee the rights of guest workers, 
ensure fair pay for fair work, further enhance currently 
existing agreement with regard to reciprocal social security 
and retirement benefits and that it would be driven by the 
needs of each country,s private sector with the government 
serving only as a facilitator. 
 
¶8.  (U) In his praise of the pilot program Lozano held Spain 
and the Spanish government up as examples that other 
countries should follow.  In what most Mexican press 
commentators described as a thinly veiled criticism of the 
United States, Lozano then went on to say that when there was 
good will, good sense, intelligence and understanding, it was 
possible to construct effective agreements instead of 
&walls.8  He then closed by congratulating Spain for the 
political will and sensitivity to basic human needs that it 
demonstrated in concluding pilot guest worker program. 
 
 
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EMPLOYMENT PRESIDENT? 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) During Mexico,s 2006 electoral campaign of now 
President Felipe Calderon the theme of job creation was a 
constant element of his stump speeches.  Calderon promised 
that if elected he would become the &Employment President8 
working hard to generate more and better paying jobs for 
Mexico,s citizens.  Job creation, or more accurately the 
lack of job creation, is a major issue in Mexico where, 
according to the Secretariat of Labor (STPS), the official 
unemployment is 3.6 percent.  This figure however, is 
misleading since official figures make little distinction 
between fully employed persons, underemployed person or 
persons actively looking for work; all are counted as being 
employed.  Once these factors are taken into account the real 
unemployment rate could be three or four times as high as the 
official figures. 
 
¶10.  (U) At the very start of his administration President 
Calderon continued to stress the importance his government 
would give to promoting job creation; and not just any jobs 
but good paying jobs for Mexicans in Mexico.  Now however, 
less than a full year into the first year of a six year 
administration, some labor observers believe he has begun to 
back away from his talk of being the &Employment 
President.8  President Calderon has publicly acknowledged 
that creating high-value jobs is a long-term prospect.  In an 
October 8 interview with the U.S. news program, &Good 
Morning America,8 Calderon explained that current economic 
factors will continue to drive out-migration from Mexico, but 
the long-term solution is for the Mexican government to 
 
MEXICO 00005485  003 OF 003 
 
 
create high-value jobs in Mexico.  He called for orderly 
migration to the United States to meet the U.S. need for 
labor.  Recently, one national media outlet quoted the 
President as recognizing that &it is now impossible8 for 
his government to create enough employment opportunities so 
that Mexican citizens would not have to migrate to the United 
States or some other countries.  The agreement with Spain is 
another example of his acceptance of   the idea of continued 
mass migration as a near-term solution to problems of 
unemployment in Mexico 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  (U) Despite the prominence the GOM gave the signing of 
its agreement for a pilot guest worker program with Spain 
there is little evidence that Mexicans are pounding down the 
doors to get there. It is almost impossible to say 
definitively how many migrants are working in another 
country.  That said, the only readily available figures on 
the number of Mexicans currently working in Spain indicate 
that the figure would be somewhere in the tens of thousands 
as opposed to the estimated millions presenting working in 
the United States.  Granted the relative ease of getting to 
the US as opposed to getting to Spain is undoubtedly a very 
significant factor (as well as the established Mexican 
immigrant networks in the U.S.) but it cannot be the only 
reason why so many more Mexicans choose to migrate to one 
country and not the other. Given the energy and determination 
that Mexicans use to enter the US (i.e. tunnels, hazardous 
dessert crossings, human smuggling criminal organization, 
etc.), the idea cannot be dismissed lightly that if large 
numbers of Mexicans wanted to go to Spain they would already 
be there. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) As for the position of President Calderon, the 
perception in some labor areas is that he has yet to deliver 
on his campaign promises to create well paying jobs. 
President Calderon,s sluggishness to date in any  sustained 
attempt to be the &Employment President8 or advance his 
&competitiveness agenda,8 does not argue well for any 
realistic plan to create good paying jobs here at home for 
Mexico,s citizens.  The Calderon Administration has 
attracted increased levels of foreign direct investment, and 
made more progress on tax reform than was made over the past 
10 years, but it has not yet made sufficient headway on job 
creation in Mexico.  Business executives complain that 
Calderon,s &competitiveness agenda8 is not moving because 
his small number of advisors are focused elsewhere.  The tax 
reform will not generate sufficient revenue to fund the 
infrastructure needed to improve Mexico,s business climate. 
Prospects for improving human capital remain dim given the 
resistance of the powerful teacher,s union to education 
reform (See Mexico 5454).  The Calderon Administration is 
working to open the Mexican economy to more competition, but 
it remains to be seen how he will take on the powerful 
oligopolies that have long blocked reforms in key sectors of 
the economy. Calderon has made more progress than his 
predecessor in tackling the reforms needed to create jobs in 
Mexico, but unless he further accelerates reform, he will 
continue to rely on  the tried and true methods employed by 
many of his predecessors.  Namely, when all else fails, 
encourage the unemployed to seek their fortunes someplace 
else other than Mexico. 
 
 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA