MAQUILADORAS, MURDER, AND MARIJUANA: NONVIOLENT AND VIOLENT CRIME TRENDS ON GENDERED MAQUILADORA EMPLOYMENT IN MEXICO POST-NAFTA

This research explores the relationship between crime occurrence and employment within surrounding Maquiladora establishments, focusing on the gendered differentiation of economic activity responsiveness to crime. As of 2019, Border town Ciudad Juarez’s murder rate placed as the second highest reported in the world, with 104 murders per 100,000, with Mexico experiencing 34,500 homicides in just that year (Meyer 2023). Despite this, Mexican border states are clustered with Maquiladoras, which in 2021 made up 58% of Mexico’s manufacturing GDP and 48% of Mexico’s manufacturing employment (Canas, 2022). This study examines the trends of employment within Maquiladoras by men and women and their responsiveness to nonviolent and violent crime using six regressions with state and year fixed effects to analyze panel data that spans 2002-2006. The findings reveal a highly statistically significant relationship between changes in crime and employment for men and women. Additionally, the findings reveal a higher responsiveness to crime from women's employment in all regressions tested.