Productividad y capital humano: fuentes complementarias de la competitividad de los estados mexicanos

This exercise estimates the level of competitiveness for the 32 federal states of Mexico taking into account production, productivity, employment and wages in 82 activities representing 95% of total GNP. There are two types of Mexican states in respect of economic performance. The competitive states are more diversified and show higher levels of productivity and wages. They are also better integrated to the international economy, and comprise mature states as DF, Querétaro, Estado de México, Jalisco, and the border states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. The other less competitive twenty-one states heavily depend on just a few locally important activities. For these states, the lack of productivity is compensated through lower salaries. Their relative backwardness is worsened by the absence of skilled labor to revert this downgrading process. This group includes situations that are even worse for the South and Southestern states, and some in the lower Pacific coast. The relative importance of productivity and wages by state remain constant over the period 2003-2008. In other words, productivity and wage differentials among activities in competitive states are much smaller and are preserved over the reference period. This process rests on more balanced economic structures and through productivity and salary gains that are transmitted across activities in more ‘modern’ economic environments. Therefore, we cannot expect convergence to happen merely by the effect of time. On the contrary, productivity gains and higher salaries (or better investment in human capital) consolidate competitive advantages and spillover effects. This combination creates a better-off scenario for the competitive states that is highly superior to the moderate improvements achieved by the other group of states.