Worker Displacement in the US/Mexico Border Region: Issues and Challenges (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Worker Displacement in the US/Mexico Border Region: Issues and Challenges Roger White Worker Displacement in the US/Mexico Border Region: Issues and Challenges. Edited by Jose A. Pagan . Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2004. 127 pp. $58.50 hardback. Worker Displacement in the US/Mexico Border Region provides a holistic examination of the job displacement issue in border communities. Contributions include a discussion of related worker demographics, direct and indirect monetary costs, associated psychological costs, and possible policy prescriptions. Further, and perhaps most importantly, the book deviates from prior works on this issue by considering displacement-related social costs. The result is an interesting, interrelated mixture of descriptive and empirical analyses, case studies, and theoretical modeling that relates to a timely and important issue that is of considerable policy interest. By concentrating on a small geographic area, the authors are able to focus on the workers rather than the data. This personalization of a topic usually treated with sterility is the text's primary contribution. At the outset, Jose A. Pagan introduces the topic of worker displacement and briefly summarizes each chapter's findings. His later chapter is particularly interesting because he estimates direct and indirect job loss by performing an input-output analysis. He identifies a direct loss of 16,881 jobs and associated indirect and induced losses of 11,327 jobs. Cynthia J. Brown and Marie T. Mora lay the groundwork for subsequent chapters by examining differences in earnings and unemployment between the border and non-border regions of Texas. The chapter by Alberto Davila and Andres Rivas uses Displaced Worker Survey (DWS) data to identify underlying reasons for job displacement. Unfortunately, the DWS is not designed for use at the local level, and a paucity of data greatly hinders the analysis and makes the findings questionable. For example, one table indicates all workers aged 20-24 years were employed, male, and either white or Mexican-American. Similarly, all workers aged 55-64 years were said to be employed white males. [End Page 119] Perhaps the most interesting offering is Chad Richardson's documentation of responses from interviews conducted with displaced workers. These responses humanize the issue of job displacement in a way that empirical examination cannot. Elena Bastida's analysis is a wonderful complement to Richardson's work. Her documentation of the non-pecuniary costs of worker displacement—e.g., an astounding 56.8 percent of displaced workers report experiencing depression—offers a compelling argument for expanded adjustment assistance. The final chapters focus on current and potential policy responses. Jose Llanes considers garment workers' human capital attributes, finding that the cost to train these workers is high compared to anticipated benefits. Llanes suggests on-the-job training and long-term wage support as alternative policies. Marco Garza examines a workforce development model implemented in the region and concludes that, to maximize effectiveness, such policy responses need be sufficiently flexible and tailored to specific situations. The book concludes by abruptly heading in a new direction, offering a theoretical model developed by Gokce Soydemir which forecasts employment variations. While interesting its own right, this chapter is surprising given the text's direction to that point. The book reads well and is accessible without a high degree of technical ability. It would be of interest to most researchers focusing on job displacement and would be appropriate even at the advanced undergraduate level. Roger White Franklin and Marshall College Copyright © 2006 the West Virginia University Press, for the United Association for Labor Studies