Industrial Upgrading and the Labor Situation: Case of the Electronics Industry in Tijuana

This paper seeks to clarify the implications of technological evolution (i.e technical upgrading within industries) for labor situations at three electronics industry enterprises located in Tijuana. Evidence suggests that technological upgrading is favored by the strategic position of companies with access to the North American market, as well as by the capacities acquired throughout their history in the region. Qualified workers (i.e. principally engineers) are exposed to new learning dynamics via training for which they obtain higher income and higher job security. In this sense, the correlation between upgrading and labor is positive. However, intensity and breadth of the upgrading is not sufficient to radically transform labor markets. The companies' productive functions, characterized as hybrids between design and manufacturing, represent the main obstacle to allowing upgrading and labor to reach a new level. Thus, the fact that one function does not predominate over the other requires the combination of highly skilled and unskilled labor.