Remittances to Mexico Rise in June to $2 Billion Anthony Harrup - Dow Jones
go to original August 2, 2012

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans living abroad sent home $2.09 billion in remittances in June, a 3.5% increase from the year-earlier month, the Bank of Mexico said Wednesday.

The central bank said there were 6.3 million transfers in June at an average per transfer of $332.20. The total brought year-to-date remittances to $11.85 billion, a 6% rise from the first half of 2011.

In a recent report on migration, BBVA said growth in remittances this year could be the biggest in five years, and that in 2013 remittances could exceed their record of $26 billion reached in 2007.

"With the recovery in the U.S. economy, remittances have started to increase, and migratory flows could also gradually start to do so," BBVA said. "Although migratory flows haven't increased, there hasn't been a massive return of Mexican migrants."

The bank concluded in its study that the main reasons behind the lack of migration growth since 2008 were the U.S. economic crisis and consequent lack of jobs for immigrants, and a number of laws passed in several states against illegal immigrants, which it called the "Arizona effect."

But the bank questioned whether changes in Mexico, such as a lower birth rate and greater work opportunities, were behind the slowdown in migration, and noted that the wage gap between the U.S. and Mexico has continued to increase, an incentive for workers to head north.

Based on employment data from the National Statistics Institute, BBVA estimated that 70% of Mexicans who return from the U.S. find work in the first three months, and 95% within a year, although between three and four of every 10 end up working in the informal economy, and 35% earn at best one minimum wage, which in Mexico is around $4.50 a day.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@dowjones.com

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!