BajaNomad

Loreto'suncertain future - no qualified workers

wilderone - 2-14-2008 at 10:41 AM

Development has broad ramifications and does not automatically bring benefits, jobs, and a better life for small town baja citizens. The opportunity is there, but nothing in place to position them to take advantage. "Outsiders" come instead.

http://www.oem.com.mx/elsudcaliforniano/notas/n592838.htm

Loreto Will Face Challenges Of Tourist Development In Short Term

"Due to the absence of specific programs for training for the Loretanos, a difficult future is glimpsed, to be able to face the challenges of the development and growth of this tourist destination.

The advancement of Loreto in tourist matters is something that is unable to be stopped; day by day you can begin to see pieces of new construction in this branch some other project that promises to be of medium to big, which needs qualified personnel to be able to enter the positions that are opened.

It is seen that in spite of much that has said and predicted for Loreto across the years, the speed with which the growth is happening is exceeding the native inhabitants of this region, which is stopping opportunities to participate more directly in this process of development.

This generates a real and urgent need to go to end programs [slow down projects and work with local government] in a cooperative way with authorities, groups and society in general of training and preparation to be able to gain access to better sources of employment, thus joining the effort of the private initiative that is walking with firm and constant steps without rest.

If the Loretanos do not [step up soon] (literal translation: “do not give themselves this in the short term) they will turn out to be displaced by the same need of the development to be provided with personnel qualified for the performance of the principal employments that are already generated at this time."

Hook - 2-14-2008 at 11:05 AM

Time for some reverse immigration. Think of how many Mexican citizens are up here with excellent building skills now.

Mexico's improving economy IS the best solution to our immigration issues.

DENNIS - 2-14-2008 at 11:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook

Mexico's improving economy IS the best solution to our immigration issues.


So true. And, the sooner the workers start earning a living wage, the sooner the government can implement a robust income tax. It will give new meaning to "underground economy."

Gadget - 2-14-2008 at 01:30 PM

Quote:
This generates a real and urgent need to go to end programs [slow down projects and work with local government] in a cooperative way with authorities, groups and society in general of training and preparation to be able to gain access to better sources of employment, thus joining the effort of the private initiative that is walking with firm and constant steps without rest.



Boy, that's a mouth full. I had to catch my breath just reading it. :)

DENNIS - 2-14-2008 at 01:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gadget
Boy, that's a mouth full. I had to catch my breath just reading it. :)


I think the whole article was run through a translator.

Don Alley - 2-14-2008 at 02:12 PM

Developments that include a projected 12,000+ units are not being promoted by Fonatur and the federal government for the economic benefit of the tiny population of Loreto.

Some Loretans will take advantage of long-term opportunities that development brings, some will only make short term, one time gains through land sales. Some will be unable to take advantages of the opportunities, and, faced with the rising cost of living, be forced out. Maybe, ironically, to the US.

We may have already seen a change in the local power structure in the recent election. And we will see changes in the makeup of local businesses. As the municipality grows, and new, competitive people move in, standards of service and quality will rise. Some Loreto businesses will be swept aside by competitors that the old local power structures can no longer protect from competition.

It's a boom town.

wilderone - 2-15-2008 at 11:23 AM

It's not just the building skills for the new construction. A $1 million influx was promised from FADESA last week, the mega-developer from Spain who plans another mega-development in Loreto, for new equipment for the new hospital, which the governor stated will be in operation shortly. But where will they get the staffing - how many doctors, nurses, x-ray techs, clerks with computer experience, are there in Loreto for these jobs? The governor of Baja last week underscored the need for development of Baja CA to proceed with local labor, and with respect to the customs of the citizens and workers, and protection of the environment, citing that past developers have not done so in the past. There are other entities working toward environmental controls of coastal lands in Baja, as well as new laws protecting wetlands and designations of protected areas. The land grabs may continue, but runaway development may be slowed, as evidenced by the Governor's speech, Calderon's repeated reference to environmental protections, and local municipal acknowledgment of exploitation. And unavoidably, sufficient water continues to be an issue. New data indicates that a big dust bowl era is coming - northern Mexico, as well as Yucatan are drying up as aquifers' supplies diminish. And, of course, development requires ready buyers - and everyone is feeling some pinch from the poor economic climate. Time will tell.

Wait for apartments

Osprey - 2-16-2008 at 08:20 AM

More than ever there appears in the press, and other media, articles and viewpoints about Emerging Mexico – where it is today, where it needs to go, how long it will take. The southern edition of the Gringo Gazette recently included an article by James Dunn of Los Barriles that put a light on Cabo San Lucas society; he rightly supposes that this booming resort city needs a Mexican middle-class. He says Cabeños gringos should do more to aid and support what is needed to lift poor, honest and ambitious Mexicans to a place where they can finally fill middle class positions and eventually change the social profile of the place. Noble thoughts. I believe it is happening with or without his urging. The progress is agonizingly slow.

What would make it move faster/better would be to change, on one milestone Wednesday, the very core of millenniums of culture: where and how up and coming workers live. From Cabo to Loreto, Zwah to Cancun the answer has been temporary ramshackle barracks where the workers live while they are up and coming and egg-carton projects provided by the government when and if the poor stiffs can afford a place with walls instead of tarpaper.

Old uncle Ray from Froghair, Alabama, traveling for the first time through those same areas might look out the window of the cab, turn to Martha and say “These poor folks need apartments. Nice ones. Like they have in cities. Like we lived in at Knuckletown til I made more money and we could buy the house.”

Apartments. Apartment complexes. Fourplexes, sixteenplexes. That’s where you live in between poor and middle class. In the nicer ones it’s where you stay til you are upper middle class. So why aren’t builder-developers building apartments all over Mexico, especially Baja California where they’re sorely needed? Because they don’t represent good, solid investment opportunity. Because Mexicans don’t rent, they don’t pay, won’t sign leases, would sooner live in tarpaper shacks?

Mortgage lending in Mexico is on the rise and brings hope for the process but until wages/profits for the little guy reach a level where families can afford $700 U.S. or more for apartment housing developers are not going to go out on a limb. That says nothing about how the same hard-working guy or gal earns $3,000 a month to move up and out to own or rent a single family dwelling we gringos recognize as the symbol of middle classdom.

Well, maybe some day. Maybe hundreds of years from now Mexicans will become great renters. Maybe we’ll see a grand sea-change, a middle class that will be sneaking up on the rich. Mexican waiters and roofers and boat captains signing leases, making improvements, paying on or before the first. It is still a process so we’ll just have to continue watching luxury leisure palaces go up and up while the workers come and go through little Cartonlandias from Cabo San Lucas to San Bruno and back.

Gambling could change the whole thing in a Mexican heartbeat. Imagine the spacious, well appointed pads dealers in Aruba own, rent. But, once gambling takes hold in Mexico, Old Mexico will cease to exist.

Another instance of “When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.”