North America has not heard the giant sucking sound of U.S. jobs heading south in the four years since NAFTA was implemented on Jan. 1, 1994. A new survey of trade and investment in the Americas from Bank of Montreal refutes Electronic Data Systems founder and former Presidential candidate Ross Perot's job-loss prediction. It shows 90% of U.S. businesses adding employees or keeping the same number since NAFTA took effect. Only 9% have lost workers. For North America, 88% of businesses have added workers--or have kept the same number; 11% have lost employees. For U.S. and Canadian companies job loss was attributed primarily to less demand for their goods and services. Also factors: automation and moves to reduce labor costs. For Mexican companies, automation was the most significant job-loss factor.
Only one company, in the U.S., directly attributed its job losses to NAFTA.
