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Border Business Indicators
The Border Business Indicators (BBI), a Texas Center publication from 1990 to the present, has been in existence in a variety of formats since the 1980s. In its present configuration, the BBI covers twenty-two economic indicators for cities along the Rio Grande from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.
On March 2003, the Border Business Indicators was reformatted to pro-vide a more concise and “fast read” of the economic indicators for those cities on the Texas-Mexico border. In this current iteration, U.S.-Mexico trade information was incorporated as part of the monthly offer-ings in the BBI. Along with the inclusion of trade data, the fifteen indicators in the BBI publication were synchronized to the searchable data sets available on the on the Texas Center web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Vision Economic Outlook Report
The Texas Center’s ongoing work with business and community organizations may result in a variety of collaborative publications and materials. One such publication is the Vision Economic Outlook Report.
The Vision Economic Outlook Report is prepared in cooperation with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce and has been in publication since the 1990s. The publication is distributed at the Vision Conferences held annually. The Vision Report provides a view of the City of Laredo’s economic indica-tors, trade data and a timely point of the interest to the community. It is published once a year and is freely available at the Center’s web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Web Site
Since it first came on-line in 1998, the Texas Center’s web site has been available to the public and has provided economic and trade data. From 2001, the Center has added searchable data directly from our data sets. In addition, links to other resources were included to guide users to other sites with valuable data and information. Subsequently, specialty publications were added to the site providing insight into the region. As the new decade approaches, the Center staff is working on plans to offer new data searches, filters, and reports. If you have not visited our site recent-ly, do so as we start to upgrade our site http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Quarterly Report
First published in the Summer of 2009, the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Report provides current information regard-ing on-going projects, addtions or modifications to data sets and personnel changes.
Texas A&M International University
Texas Center for Border Economic andEnterprise Development
QUARTERLY REPORTSpring 2010
Border
Busine
ss Ind
icator
s
Texas
A&M
Inte
rnat
ional
Univ
ersi
ty
Texas
Cen
ter f
or Bord
er E
conom
ic a
nd Ente
rpris
e Dev
elopm
ent
Contin
ued o
n Bac
k Pag
e
http://
texa
scen
ter.t
amiu
.edu
Lared
o, Tex
as
Vol. 32
No. 1
2•
Decem
ber 2
008
U.S.-M
exico
200
8 Tra
de Fig
ures
Show Incr
ease
Ove
r 200
7
From th
e ons
et, 2
008
grow
th in
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico h
ad
been
in th
e dou
ble-d
igits
and U
.S. im
ports
grow
th ha
d bee
n in t
he
uppe
r sin
gle-d
igits
(7-9
perce
nt). T
he pe
rcent
age g
rowth
of tra
de
figur
es ha
s bee
n bett
er in
2008
year-
to-d
ate ag
ainst
thos
e of t
he
same p
eriod
in 2
007.
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico—
up to
Octo
ber
2008
—main
taine
d a 13
.3 pe
rcent
avera
ge in
creas
e ove
r the s
ame
perio
d in 2
007.
Simila
rly, U
.S. im
ports
from
Mex
ico co
ntin
ued
posti
ng an
avera
ge of
7.4 p
ercen
t for
the s
ame p
eriod
.
In T
able
1, th
e to
tal d
ollar
valu
e of
all
mercha
ndise
trad
e
($31
5.6 b
illion
) was
up
9.4 p
ercen
t for
Octo
ber 2
008
YTD
again
st th
e sam
e peri
od in
2007
($28
8.6 bi
llion
). Alth
ough
, trad
e
betw
een t
he tr
adin
g part
ners
was up
, the U
.S. s
light
ly re
duce
d its
trade
defi
cit w
ith M
exico
. The
Octo
ber 2
007
YTD defi
cit w
as
$60.2
bill
ion.
U.S. i
mports
from
Mex
ico o
utpa
ced
expo
rts to
Mex
ico in
200
8 res
ultin
g in
a de
ficit
of $
56.8
billi
on. D
ue to
stron
ger e
xpor
ts fig
ures
, the
re was
5.6
perce
nt d
ecrea
se in
the
grow
th of
the d
eficit
in O
ctobe
r 200
8 YTD.
Of the
$31
5.6 b
illio
n do
llar v
alue o
f thi
s merc
hand
ise tr
ade
betw
een t
he tra
ding p
artne
rs in
2008
YTD, $
242.4
billi
on or
76.8
perce
nt w
as p
roce
ssed
at U
.S.-M
exico
bor
der p
orts
of e
ntry
.
Texas
bord
er po
rts of
entry
acco
unted
for $
184.9
billi
on or
76.3
perce
nt of
that
total
trad
e merc
hand
ise va
lue (
See Tab
le 2 a
nd 3)
.
On the
back
page
, Tab
les 5
and 6
delin
eate
the 2
7 por
ts of
entry
on th
e U.S
.-Mex
ico bo
rder,
and t
he do
llar v
alue o
f U.S
. exp
orts
to M
exico
, and
U.S
. impo
rts fr
om M
exico
pass
ing t
hrou
gh th
em
respe
ctive
ly. —
B. Gar
cia
Tab
le 1
U.S.-M
exic
o Trade
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
114.
2
129.
4
13.3
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
174.
4
186.
2
6.8
Total T
rade
288.
6
315.
6
9.4
Table
2
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y U.S
.-Mex
ico B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
95.8
105.
9
10.5
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
136.
9
136.
5
-0.3
Total T
rade
232.
7
242.
4
4.2
Table
3
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y Tex
as B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
Texas
Bor
der P
orts
177.
6
184.
9
4.1
Other
U.S
.-Mex
ico B
orde
r Por
ts
55.2
57.5
4.2
Total T
rade
232.
8
242.
4
4.1
Note:
Figure
s may
not m
atch
due t
o rou
nding
.
Table
4
Total U
.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de
Proce
ssed
by U
.S.-M
exic
o Bord
er P
orts
(In U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Port of E
ntry
Total
Total
Change
Browns
ville
11,1
60,7
67,5
08
11,0
43,0
57,2
67
-1.1
Del Rio
2,74
9,95
3,47
1
2,48
6,31
2,25
6
-9.6
Eagle
Pass
10,1
53,8
83,6
82
10,2
89,2
60,4
02
1.3
Lare
do
92,5
26,3
83,7
00
99,3
53,1
83,9
63
7.4
Hidalgo
18,4
51,8
67,2
75
19,0
61,5
85,4
59
3.3
Rio Gra
nde
256,
459,
216
384,
805,
868
50.0
Progr
eso
243,
215,
929
348,
307,
724
43.2
Roma
145,
995,
067
159,
073,
585
9.0
Edinbu
rg A
irpor
t
0
2,75
0
-
El Pas
o
41,4
94,9
90,2
42
41,2
53,3
95,7
69
-0.6
Presid
io
374,
065,
616
483,
490,
744
29.3
Faben
s
4,73
5,24
7
25,7
85,5
05
444.
5
Colum
bus
45,9
84,8
24
41,4
78,1
89
-9.8
Santa
Ter
esa
1,12
5,97
3,82
5
1,04
5,75
9,37
8
-7.1
Santa
Ter
esa A
irpor
t
0
0
-
Andra
de
1,19
0,40
2
1,89
1,95
7
58.9
Calexic
o
29,2
81,0
20
46,6
90,6
36
59.5
San Y
sidro
136,
804,
203
222,
947,
645
63.0
Tecat
e
1,03
6,81
4,23
0
973,
173,
711
-6.1
Otay M
esa S
tatio
n
25,2
80,7
97,8
96
27,1
87,8
70,2
28
7.5
Calexic
o-Eas
t
10,0
50,2
45,6
27
9,80
2,72
3,54
4
-2.5
Dougla
s
1,11
6,89
1,43
0
1,00
3,69
0,74
4
-10.
1
Luke
ville
9,98
3,27
3
8,66
7,03
0
-13.
2
Naco
113,
492,
349
36,8
99,6
51
-67.
5
Nogale
s
15,3
79,4
48,8
29
16,1
40,3
02,1
00
4.9
Sasab
e
570,
333
1,23
1,03
2
115.
8
San L
uis
868,
983,
561
960,
262,
686
10.5
Total T
rade
232,
758,
778,
755
242,
361,
849,
823
4.1
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy i
n 2008
By
Pablo
Camac
ho-G
utierr
ez, Ass
istan
t Profes
sor
of Eco
nomics
, Divisio
n of
Intern
ation
al
Bankin
g and
Fina
nce S
tudies
, A.R
. San
chez
Jr., S
choo
l of B
usine
ss, T
exas
A&M In
terna
tiona
l
Univers
ity
Vision 20
09
During
the p
ast tw
o cen
turies
, Lare
do h
as be
en at
the c
rossro
ads o
f U.S.-M
exico
trade
and c
ommerc
e. As th
e city
of 22
2,482
inhab
itants
enter
s the n
ew m
illenn
ium, L
aredo
will co
ntinu
e to s
hape
the d
estiny
of th
e reg
ion. T
remen
dous
effort
s are
unde
rway
to
maintai
n a co
mpetiti
ve bu
siness
envir
onmen
t. In t
his re
gard,
exten
sive p
artici
patio
n by
the bu
siness
commun
ity w
ill ha
llmark
how w
ell w
e are
prepa
red to
addre
ss bo
th the
increa
se in
growth
and c
ommerc
e.
The Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e, ov
er 70
0 mem
bers
stron
g, ha
s a vi
sion a
nd go
al
to fos
ter th
e ong
oing b
etterm
ent o
f the c
ommun
ity an
d reg
ion as
well
as en
coura
ge an
d
promote
the m
ainten
ance
of a c
ompe
titive
busin
ess se
ctor. T
here
are th
ree pr
ime f
actors
that b
ode w
ell fo
r the
futur
e of L
aredo
: firs
t is th
e grow
ing ac
tive w
ork fo
rce, s
econd
the co
ntinu
ed di
versi
ficati
on of
all e
cono
mic sec
tors,
and t
hird,
a sign
ifican
t pub
lic-
priva
te inf
rastru
cture
initia
tive t
o enh
ance
all ar
eas of
the r
egion
’s tra
nsport
ation
corri
-
dors
and s
uppo
rt serv
ices.
The 20
09 V
ision
Con
feren
ce int
ends
to foc
us on
the d
ynam
ic co
mmercial
viab
ility o
f
the ci
ty an
d the
trad
itiona
l link
ages
with co
unter
parts
in M
exico
and t
he Sou
th Tex
as
region
. The
mem
bersh
ip of
the Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e loo
ks for
ward to
conti
n-
ued
region
al an
d tra
nsnati
onal
coop
eratio
n. Thu
s, thi
s pub
licati
on is
a sn
apsho
t of
Laredo
’s rec
ent g
rowth
and t
rade a
ctivit
ies.
Formulat
ing a Visi
on
The
Purp
ose o
f the V
ision 2
009 C
onfer
ence
and T
rade M
ission
Econom
ic O
utlook
Rep
ort
Chambe
r of C
ommerc
e
Lared
o, Tex
as Volu
me 11,
Issue
1
May 20
09
Importa
nt Fac
ts:
• The P
ort of L
aredo is
the
larges
t port
of entry
on the
U.S.-Mex
ico bord
er, an
d the
third la
rges
t inlan
d border
port of e
ntry beh
ind Detr
oit,
MI and B
uffalo, N
Y.
• The P
ort of L
aredo han
dles
over 4
0 % of U
.S.-Mex
ico
trade.
• Ove
r 10,0
00 tr
ucks c
ross
at
the Port
of Lare
do daily.
Inside T
his Iss
ue...
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy
in 2008
.......
........
........
........
...... 1
Intern
ation
al Cros
sings
Pedes
trian .
........
........
........
.... 2
Vehicl
e ......
........
........
........
..... 2
Truck ..
........
........
........
........
.... 3
Rail ...
........
........
........
........
..... 3
Intern
ation
al Air C
argo .
........
. 3
Bridge
Rev
enue
s ......
........
..... 4
Constr
uctio
n Sec
tor
Buildin
g Perm
its ...
........
........
. 5
Intern
ation
al Trad
e and
Commerc
e
Retail S
ales .
........
........
........
.. 5
Sales T
ax R
ebate
s ......
........
.. 5
Reces
sion an
d Peso
Deprec
iation: W
hat a M
ix for
Laredo! ..
........
........
........
........
... 6
Other In
dicato
rs ....
........
........
... 8
U.S.-Mex
ico Trad
e in 20
08 an
d
the Port
of Lare
do ........
........
... 10
Laredo
’s eco
nomy s
howed
sign
s of s
lowing
down i
n 200
6 and
2007
. In 2
008,
the
Laredo
econ
omy s
howed
sign
s of a
reces
sion.
Pedest
rian c
rossin
gs co
ntinu
ed in
2008
its in
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 20
05; n
oneth
eless,
retai
l sale
s drop
ped w
ith re
spect
to its
2007
leve
l, an
d sale
s tax
reba
tes re
mained
stag
nant
at its
2007
leve
l. Veh
icle
crossi
ngs c
ontin
ued i
ts de
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 19
99. T
ruck c
rossin
g rem
ained
stagn
ant fo
r a th
ird ye
ar in
a row
. Rail
cars
crossi
ngs a
nd ai
r carg
o inc
reased
the r
ate at
which h
ave b
een de
creasi
ng si
nce 2
006.
The va
lue of
build
ing pe
rmits
expe
rienc
ed a
sharp
decre
ase. T
he nu
mber o
f emplo
yed i
ndivi
duals
grew
in 20
08, b
ut so
did po
pula-
tion i
n Lare
do. T
he re
sult w
as an
incre
ase in
the u
nemplo
ymen
t rate.
The to
tal va
lue of
U.S.-Mex
ico tr
ade t
hat c
rossed
Lare
do in
2008
incre
ased w
ith re
spect
to 20
07; h
ow-
ever,
U.S.-M
exico
trade
decre
ased l
ast N
ovem
ber a
nd D
ecembe
r.
Despite
the e
cono
mic ha
rdship
that
Laredo
is fa
cing,
the av
erage
citiz
en in
Laredo
is
bette
r off
today
than
, say
, a de
cade a
go du
e to t
he ex
traord
inary
econo
mic gro
wth tha
t
the ci
ty ha
s enjo
yed i
n its
recen
t past
. Lare
do re
mains a
s a m
ajor p
layer
in int
ernati
onal
trade
, a to
p-thre
e inla
nd bo
rder p
ort in
the U
.S., and
hand
les 40
perce
nt of
U.S.-Mex
ico
trade
.
(Con
tinue
d on p
age 2
)
Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Reports are prepared by the Center’s staff for the purpose of communicating to the public the Center’s mission, activities and services available to the area.
Have any questions about the Center, feel free to contact us at:Texas A&M International University Voice: 956-326-2545Texas Center FAX: 956-326-25445201 University Boulevard E-mail: [email protected], TX 78041 Visit our web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu
Texa
s Cen
ter fo
r Bor
der E
cono
mic an
d Ent
erpr
ise D
evelo
pmen
t
©20
09Tex
asCen
terfo
r Border
Econom
ican
dEnter
prise Dev
elopm
ent
Texas
A&MIn
ternati
onalUniv
ersit
y·
TCBEED/WHTC
221
5201
Univer
sity
Boulevar
d·
Lared
o, TX. 7804
1-190
0 Telephone:
(956)
326-2
546
· Fax:
(956)
326-2
544
Thisis
best view
edin
1024
x768
reso
lutio
n.Com
men
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ggestio
ns about th
isweb
site.
Visito
r 1318
94
http
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asce
nter
.tamiu.
edu/
index
.asp [
6/3/
2009
3:38
:59 P
M]
TCBEED Provides Economic Outlook at Vision 2010 Conference
On April 29 and 30, 2010, the Laredo Cham-ber of Commerce and the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development (TCBEED) hosted the Visions 2010 Conference. This confer-ence series also marked its 22nd anniversary.
The plenary session and reception were held on April 29 at the Interna-tional Bank of Commerce Annex Building. F. Barry Lawrence, Ph.D., Director, Industrial Distribution Pro-gram and Director, Supply Chains Systems Laborato-ry, at Texas A&M Universi-ty, College Station, gave his presentation, “The Mexico-Border Trade Corridor.”
The second part of the conference held on April
30 at the Texas A&M Inter-national University cam-pus, gave all attending the opportunity to listen to ex-perts in the various fields. In the infrastructure panel, Albert Quintanilla, District Engineer, Laredo District, TxDOT, gave his presenta-tion on the impact of the U.S. stimulus package on Webb County’s infrastruc-ture. In addition Otto Ros-er, O&M Manager, Edison Mission Group-Cedro Hill, gave his presentation of the impact of wind energy and the Bruni project.
Next, the panel on economy covered local, re-gional and area issues. Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of Eco-nomics at A.R. Sanchez, Jr., School of Business, TAMIU opened the panel with a 15 minute review of the Laredo economy. Fol-lowing Dr. Camacho was Roberto Coronado, Asso-
ciate Economist, Federal Reserve bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch. He covered the impact of the eco-nomic slowdown on the retail industry, and Luis Garcia—founding partner of Investra Consultores, Monterrey, Mexico—present-ed the Mexico perspective of the economic climate.
Guest speakers at the conference were the Hon-orable Henry Cuellar, U.S. House of Representative, District 23, and Mr. Rob-ert Rivard, Editor and Ex-ecutive Vice President, San Antonio Express News and author of Trail of Feathers.
The TCBEED has his-torically provided the Chamber and the Vision conferees with the eco-nomic outlook publication. This year was no differ-ent from past years. The TCBEED produced the Vi-sion 2010 Economic Outlook Report, a twelve-page pub-
lication with tabular and graphical data covering those indicators affecting the Laredo economy. As with the 2009 report, Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez provided the economic analyses for 2009 with an outlook to 2010. Other con-tributors to the publication were the TCBEED staff: Baldomero G. Garcia, Jr., production editor; Jacque-line Benavides, copy edi-tor; Leo Lozano database specialist, and Leiza No-chebuena, data researcher.
In addition to the eco-nomic forecast, Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez authored the main article in the Vi-sion 2010 report, “A Note on the Central American Hype.” It focused on the past and current merchan-dise trade between the U.S. and Central America par-ticularly through the Lare-do Port of Entry—a double-edged issue in Laredo.
Laredo Prospecting Peru for U.S.-Peruvian Trade Opportunities
I had the privilege to be a part of the second trade delegation rep-resenting the City of Laredo and TAMIU to Peru at the Annual Latin American (AMCHAM) Convention which took place in Lima from June 21st through June 25th where del-egations of over 26 countries partici-pated actively across the America’s region and even Europe and Asia.
This was our second visit to Peru to promote the Port of Laredo’s multimodal-logistical-infrastructure among high rank Peruvian govern-
ment officials, private sector organizations within the ex-port/import sector, and different meaningful chambers of commerce like the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL), COMEX and ADEX which assist and mentor all type of ex-porters/importers of dry and perishable goods globally.
So without any equivocation, the Port of Laredo is now playing in the big leagues as an optimal alternative to re-place other traditional and perhaps more expensive U.S. ports of entry to address the huge NAFTA marketplace us-ing some strategic state-of-the-art Mexican Ports like Man-zanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Veracruz, and Tampico which were developed and built when the NAFTA Agreement was signed back in 1994. So the “Laredo North American Strategic Corridor” or NASCO would allow any exporter/importer from the America’s region to substantially reduce its supply chain costs, substantially improve transit times and allow any type of products coming to the US making an entry practically by the Central Region of the United States giving to buyers and sellers to have more choices to deliver their goods to the Western and/or Eastern regions of the country either by truck, railroad or air transporta-tion means.
Peru has been the fastest growing market during the last ten years, where total exports have grown from 7.0 Billion USD in 2001 to over 30 Billion USD by the end of 2010 where North America accounts by over 40% of this
total numbers as average. Peruvian exports are supposed to grow by the end of 2012 to over 40 Billion USD. What a fantastic opportunity to promote the Port of Laredo across Central and Latin America to implement down here dis-tribution centers, for packing and re-packing goods while creating new employment opportunities for Laredo’s workforce community as these distribution centers have already been doing so in other ports of entry to the U.S. marketplace like Miami, Long Beach, New York, Houston, and Seattle to mention the most significant ones.
As a result of these two visits to Peru, the City of Lar-edo in partnership with TAMIU and the Laredo Develop-ment Foundation (LDF) is preparing a Business Round-table with government and private sector officials from Peru by October of this year. The event will take place at TAMIU’s campus.
At the same time, TAMIU is benefiting tremendously by engaging in different educational program opportuni-ties with selected universities from the region, and differ-ent chambers of commerce which would like to pursue Ex-ecutive Education Programs for their affiliated companies. Just in Lima, Peru, the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL) has over 8,000 affiliated companies which would benefit from these types of agreements with TAMIU and its strategic international geographical location.
In the remaining year, upcoming trade delegations from the City of Laredo will be heading down to Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina to continue promot-ing the Port of Laredo which belongs to the 6th Largest Customs District of the U.S. and where over 11,000 trucks cross daily in both directions. Of course, all of us would expect to have meaningful business roundtables at TAMIU with other countries like Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina this and next year. Just to mention, it is ex-pected that total exports from Chile and Colombia would reach a combined total of over 80 Billion USD by the end of 2011.
In closing, I believe strongly that all efforts deployed in promoting Laredo in Central America, Peru and the rest of Latin America have been long overdue because in my personal opinion, as I have stated before, Laredo is the untold story for international trade across the America’s region.
—Herbert A. Molina, Director of the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development
The Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development workingalongside you today for a better tomorrow.
The Mission
To marshal the knowledge and expertise of Texas A&M International University’s faculty, students, and staff to provide effective leadership and support Laredo and the surrounding area in their economic development efforts
Herbert A. MolinaDirector of the TCBEED
Profile: Texas Center Data User
Bob Cook has served as presi-dent and CEO of the El Paso Re-gional Economic Development C o r p o ra t i o n (REDCo) since its inception in 2004. REDCo offers confi-dential, no-fee consul ta t ion to businesses and industries
interested in relocating or expand-ing their operations to the Greater El Paso region—an area that includes portions of Southern New Mexico and the state of Chihuahua, México.
Under Cook’s leadership, REDCo has strengthened the region’s econom-ic vitality in its first five years by gen-
erating 9,836 new jobs (6,178 direct and 3,658 indirect), $11.3 million in new state and local taxes, $1.3 billion in new labor income and $4.4 billion in total output.
According to Cook, research sup-plied by the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Develop-ment is a contributing component to REDCo’s achievements. “It’s not enough to have data,” Cook points out. “It must be accurate, current and practical. The research that the Tex-as Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development provides em-powers our efforts to leverage where business is headed.”
As the fourth-largest manufacturing center in North America, the Greater El Paso region competes globally to attract expanding businesses in the al-ternative energy, automotive, biomed-ical and homeland/defense industries. Access to the most accurate data avail-able keeps it competitive.
The center’s studies on border eco-nomic issues—ranging from infra-structure needs and environmental issues to the impact of NAFTA on Tex-as-México trade relations and future business opportunities—resulted in valuable insights REDCo has utilized to direct its initiatives, keep its website current, produce the “Business Barom-eters” annual report, and present the challenges and opportunities of the region to its clients.
Cook is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in business. He began his economic-devel-opment career as an economic ana-lyst with the Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce, and served five years as President/CEO of the Jackson, Ten-nessee Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Cook returned to El Paso in 2002 to be president/CEO of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce prior to his position as president/CEO of REDCo.
Bob CookPresident and CEOEl Paso Regional
Economic Development Corporation (REDCo)
TCBEED Provides Economic Outlook at Vision 2010 Conference
On April 29 and 30, 2010, the Laredo Cham-ber of Commerce and the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development (TCBEED) hosted the Visions 2010 Conference. This confer-ence series also marked its 22nd anniversary.
The plenary session and reception were held on April 29 at the Interna-tional Bank of Commerce Annex Building. F. Barry Lawrence, Ph.D., Director, Industrial Distribution Pro-gram and Director, Supply Chains Systems Laborato-ry, at Texas A&M Universi-ty, College Station, gave his presentation, “The Mexico-Border Trade Corridor.”
The second part of the conference held on April
30 at the Texas A&M Inter-national University cam-pus, gave all attending the opportunity to listen to ex-perts in the various fields. In the infrastructure panel, Albert Quintanilla, District Engineer, Laredo District, TxDOT, gave his presenta-tion on the impact of the U.S. stimulus package on Webb County’s infrastruc-ture. In addition Otto Ros-er, O&M Manager, Edison Mission Group-Cedro Hill, gave his presentation of the impact of wind energy and the Bruni project.
Next, the panel on economy covered local, re-gional and area issues. Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of Eco-nomics at A.R. Sanchez, Jr., School of Business, TAMIU opened the panel with a 15 minute review of the Laredo economy. Fol-lowing Dr. Camacho was Roberto Coronado, Asso-
ciate Economist, Federal Reserve bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch. He covered the impact of the eco-nomic slowdown on the retail industry, and Luis Garcia—founding partner of Investra Consultores, Monterrey, Mexico—present-ed the Mexico perspective of the economic climate.
Guest speakers at the conference were the Hon-orable Henry Cuellar, U.S. House of Representative, District 23, and Mr. Rob-ert Rivard, Editor and Ex-ecutive Vice President, San Antonio Express News and author of Trail of Feathers.
The TCBEED has his-torically provided the Chamber and the Vision conferees with the eco-nomic outlook publication. This year was no differ-ent from past years. The TCBEED produced the Vi-sion 2010 Economic Outlook Report, a twelve-page pub-
lication with tabular and graphical data covering those indicators affecting the Laredo economy. As with the 2009 report, Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez provided the economic analyses for 2009 with an outlook to 2010. Other con-tributors to the publication were the TCBEED staff: Baldomero G. Garcia, Jr., production editor; Jacque-line Benavides, copy edi-tor; Leo Lozano database specialist, and Leiza No-chebuena, data researcher.
In addition to the eco-nomic forecast, Dr. Pablo Camacho-Gutierrez authored the main article in the Vi-sion 2010 report, “A Note on the Central American Hype.” It focused on the past and current merchan-dise trade between the U.S. and Central America par-ticularly through the Lare-do Port of Entry—a double-edged issue in Laredo.
Laredo Prospecting Peru for U.S.-Peruvian Trade Opportunities
I had the privilege to be a part of the second trade delegation rep-resenting the City of Laredo and TAMIU to Peru at the Annual Latin American (AMCHAM) Convention which took place in Lima from June 21st through June 25th where del-egations of over 26 countries partici-pated actively across the America’s region and even Europe and Asia.
This was our second visit to Peru to promote the Port of Laredo’s multimodal-logistical-infrastructure among high rank Peruvian govern-
ment officials, private sector organizations within the ex-port/import sector, and different meaningful chambers of commerce like the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL), COMEX and ADEX which assist and mentor all type of ex-porters/importers of dry and perishable goods globally.
So without any equivocation, the Port of Laredo is now playing in the big leagues as an optimal alternative to re-place other traditional and perhaps more expensive U.S. ports of entry to address the huge NAFTA marketplace us-ing some strategic state-of-the-art Mexican Ports like Man-zanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Veracruz, and Tampico which were developed and built when the NAFTA Agreement was signed back in 1994. So the “Laredo North American Strategic Corridor” or NASCO would allow any exporter/importer from the America’s region to substantially reduce its supply chain costs, substantially improve transit times and allow any type of products coming to the US making an entry practically by the Central Region of the United States giving to buyers and sellers to have more choices to deliver their goods to the Western and/or Eastern regions of the country either by truck, railroad or air transporta-tion means.
Peru has been the fastest growing market during the last ten years, where total exports have grown from 7.0 Billion USD in 2001 to over 30 Billion USD by the end of 2010 where North America accounts by over 40% of this
total numbers as average. Peruvian exports are supposed to grow by the end of 2012 to over 40 Billion USD. What a fantastic opportunity to promote the Port of Laredo across Central and Latin America to implement down here dis-tribution centers, for packing and re-packing goods while creating new employment opportunities for Laredo’s workforce community as these distribution centers have already been doing so in other ports of entry to the U.S. marketplace like Miami, Long Beach, New York, Houston, and Seattle to mention the most significant ones.
As a result of these two visits to Peru, the City of Lar-edo in partnership with TAMIU and the Laredo Develop-ment Foundation (LDF) is preparing a Business Round-table with government and private sector officials from Peru by October of this year. The event will take place at TAMIU’s campus.
At the same time, TAMIU is benefiting tremendously by engaging in different educational program opportuni-ties with selected universities from the region, and differ-ent chambers of commerce which would like to pursue Ex-ecutive Education Programs for their affiliated companies. Just in Lima, Peru, the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL) has over 8,000 affiliated companies which would benefit from these types of agreements with TAMIU and its strategic international geographical location.
In the remaining year, upcoming trade delegations from the City of Laredo will be heading down to Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina to continue promot-ing the Port of Laredo which belongs to the 6th Largest Customs District of the U.S. and where over 11,000 trucks cross daily in both directions. Of course, all of us would expect to have meaningful business roundtables at TAMIU with other countries like Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina this and next year. Just to mention, it is ex-pected that total exports from Chile and Colombia would reach a combined total of over 80 Billion USD by the end of 2011.
In closing, I believe strongly that all efforts deployed in promoting Laredo in Central America, Peru and the rest of Latin America have been long overdue because in my personal opinion, as I have stated before, Laredo is the untold story for international trade across the America’s region.
—Herbert A. Molina, Director of the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development
The Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development workingalongside you today for a better tomorrow.
The Mission
To marshal the knowledge and expertise of Texas A&M International University’s faculty, students, and staff to provide effective leadership and support Laredo and the surrounding area in their economic development efforts
Herbert A. MolinaDirector of the TCBEED
Profile: Texas Center Data User
Bob Cook has served as presi-dent and CEO of the El Paso Re-gional Economic Development C o r p o ra t i o n (REDCo) since its inception in 2004. REDCo offers confi-dential, no-fee consul ta t ion to businesses and industries
interested in relocating or expand-ing their operations to the Greater El Paso region—an area that includes portions of Southern New Mexico and the state of Chihuahua, México.
Under Cook’s leadership, REDCo has strengthened the region’s econom-ic vitality in its first five years by gen-
erating 9,836 new jobs (6,178 direct and 3,658 indirect), $11.3 million in new state and local taxes, $1.3 billion in new labor income and $4.4 billion in total output.
According to Cook, research sup-plied by the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Develop-ment is a contributing component to REDCo’s achievements. “It’s not enough to have data,” Cook points out. “It must be accurate, current and practical. The research that the Tex-as Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development provides em-powers our efforts to leverage where business is headed.”
As the fourth-largest manufacturing center in North America, the Greater El Paso region competes globally to attract expanding businesses in the al-ternative energy, automotive, biomed-ical and homeland/defense industries. Access to the most accurate data avail-able keeps it competitive.
The center’s studies on border eco-nomic issues—ranging from infra-structure needs and environmental issues to the impact of NAFTA on Tex-as-México trade relations and future business opportunities—resulted in valuable insights REDCo has utilized to direct its initiatives, keep its website current, produce the “Business Barom-eters” annual report, and present the challenges and opportunities of the region to its clients.
Cook is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in business. He began his economic-devel-opment career as an economic ana-lyst with the Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce, and served five years as President/CEO of the Jackson, Ten-nessee Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Cook returned to El Paso in 2002 to be president/CEO of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce prior to his position as president/CEO of REDCo.
Bob CookPresident and CEOEl Paso Regional
Economic Development Corporation (REDCo)
Border Business Indicators
The Border Business Indicators (BBI), a Texas Center publication from 1990 to the present, has been in existence in a variety of formats since the 1980s. In its present configuration, the BBI covers twenty-two economic indicators for cities along the Rio Grande from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.
On March 2003, the Border Business Indicators was reformatted to pro-vide a more concise and “fast read” of the economic indicators for those cities on the Texas-Mexico border. In this current iteration, U.S.-Mexico trade information was incorporated as part of the monthly offer-ings in the BBI. Along with the inclusion of trade data, the fifteen indicators in the BBI publication were synchronized to the searchable data sets available on the on the Texas Center web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Vision Economic Outlook Report
The Texas Center’s ongoing work with business and community organizations may result in a variety of collaborative publications and materials. One such publication is the Vision Economic Outlook Report.
The Vision Economic Outlook Report is prepared in cooperation with the Laredo Chamber of Commerce and has been in publication since the 1990s. The publication is distributed at the Vision Conferences held annually. The Vision Report provides a view of the City of Laredo’s economic indica-tors, trade data and a timely point of the interest to the community. It is published once a year and is freely available at the Center’s web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Web Site
Since it first came on-line in 1998, the Texas Center’s web site has been available to the public and has provided economic and trade data. From 2001, the Center has added searchable data directly from our data sets. In addition, links to other resources were included to guide users to other sites with valuable data and information. Subsequently, specialty publications were added to the site providing insight into the region. As the new decade approaches, the Center staff is working on plans to offer new data searches, filters, and reports. If you have not visited our site recent-ly, do so as we start to upgrade our site http://texascenter.tamiu.edu.
Texas Center Quarterly Report
First published in the Summer of 2009, the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Report provides current information regard-ing on-going projects, addtions or modifications to data sets and personnel changes.
Texas A&M International University
Texas Center for Border Economic andEnterprise Development
QUARTERLY REPORTSpring 2010
Border
Busine
ss Ind
icator
s
Texas
A&M
Inte
rnat
ional
Univ
ersi
ty
Texas
Cen
ter f
or Bord
er E
conom
ic a
nd Ente
rpris
e Dev
elopm
ent
Contin
ued o
n Bac
k Pag
e
http://
texa
scen
ter.t
amiu
.edu
Lared
o, Tex
as
Vol. 32
No. 1
2•
Decem
ber 2
008
U.S.-M
exico
200
8 Tra
de Fig
ures
Show Incr
ease
Ove
r 200
7
From th
e ons
et, 2
008
grow
th in
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico h
ad
been
in th
e dou
ble-d
igits
and U
.S. im
ports
grow
th ha
d bee
n in t
he
uppe
r sin
gle-d
igits
(7-9
perce
nt). T
he pe
rcent
age g
rowth
of tra
de
figur
es ha
s bee
n bett
er in
2008
year-
to-d
ate ag
ainst
thos
e of t
he
same p
eriod
in 2
007.
U.S. e
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico—
up to
Octo
ber
2008
—main
taine
d a 13
.3 pe
rcent
avera
ge in
creas
e ove
r the s
ame
perio
d in 2
007.
Simila
rly, U
.S. im
ports
from
Mex
ico co
ntin
ued
posti
ng an
avera
ge of
7.4 p
ercen
t for
the s
ame p
eriod
.
In T
able
1, th
e to
tal d
ollar
valu
e of
all
mercha
ndise
trad
e
($31
5.6 b
illion
) was
up
9.4 p
ercen
t for
Octo
ber 2
008
YTD
again
st th
e sam
e peri
od in
2007
($28
8.6 bi
llion
). Alth
ough
, trad
e
betw
een t
he tr
adin
g part
ners
was up
, the U
.S. s
light
ly re
duce
d its
trade
defi
cit w
ith M
exico
. The
Octo
ber 2
007
YTD defi
cit w
as
$60.2
bill
ion.
U.S. i
mports
from
Mex
ico o
utpa
ced
expo
rts to
Mex
ico in
200
8 res
ultin
g in
a de
ficit
of $
56.8
billi
on. D
ue to
stron
ger e
xpor
ts fig
ures
, the
re was
5.6
perce
nt d
ecrea
se in
the
grow
th of
the d
eficit
in O
ctobe
r 200
8 YTD.
Of the
$31
5.6 b
illio
n do
llar v
alue o
f thi
s merc
hand
ise tr
ade
betw
een t
he tra
ding p
artne
rs in
2008
YTD, $
242.4
billi
on or
76.8
perce
nt w
as p
roce
ssed
at U
.S.-M
exico
bor
der p
orts
of e
ntry
.
Texas
bord
er po
rts of
entry
acco
unted
for $
184.9
billi
on or
76.3
perce
nt of
that
total
trad
e merc
hand
ise va
lue (
See Tab
le 2 a
nd 3)
.
On the
back
page
, Tab
les 5
and 6
delin
eate
the 2
7 por
ts of
entry
on th
e U.S
.-Mex
ico bo
rder,
and t
he do
llar v
alue o
f U.S
. exp
orts
to M
exico
, and
U.S
. impo
rts fr
om M
exico
pass
ing t
hrou
gh th
em
respe
ctive
ly. —
B. Gar
cia
Tab
le 1
U.S.-M
exic
o Trade
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
114.
2
129.
4
13.3
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
174.
4
186.
2
6.8
Total T
rade
288.
6
315.
6
9.4
Table
2
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y U.S
.-Mex
ico B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
U.S. E
xpor
ts to
Mex
ico
95.8
105.
9
10.5
U.S. I
mpo
rts fr
om M
exico
136.
9
136.
5
-0.3
Total T
rade
232.
7
242.
4
4.2
Table
3
U.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de Pro
cess
ed b
y Tex
as B
order
Ports
(In B
illio
ns of U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Total
Total
Change
Texas
Bor
der P
orts
177.
6
184.
9
4.1
Other
U.S
.-Mex
ico B
orde
r Por
ts
55.2
57.5
4.2
Total T
rade
232.
8
242.
4
4.1
Note:
Figure
s may
not m
atch
due t
o rou
nding
.
Table
4
Total U
.S.-M
exic
o Tra
de
Proce
ssed
by U
.S.-M
exic
o Bord
er P
orts
(In U
.S. D
ollars
)
2007
2008
’07 v
s. ’0
8
Oct Y
TD
Oct Y
TD
Perce
nt
Port of E
ntry
Total
Total
Change
Browns
ville
11,1
60,7
67,5
08
11,0
43,0
57,2
67
-1.1
Del Rio
2,74
9,95
3,47
1
2,48
6,31
2,25
6
-9.6
Eagle
Pass
10,1
53,8
83,6
82
10,2
89,2
60,4
02
1.3
Lare
do
92,5
26,3
83,7
00
99,3
53,1
83,9
63
7.4
Hidalgo
18,4
51,8
67,2
75
19,0
61,5
85,4
59
3.3
Rio Gra
nde
256,
459,
216
384,
805,
868
50.0
Progr
eso
243,
215,
929
348,
307,
724
43.2
Roma
145,
995,
067
159,
073,
585
9.0
Edinbu
rg A
irpor
t
0
2,75
0
-
El Pas
o
41,4
94,9
90,2
42
41,2
53,3
95,7
69
-0.6
Presid
io
374,
065,
616
483,
490,
744
29.3
Faben
s
4,73
5,24
7
25,7
85,5
05
444.
5
Colum
bus
45,9
84,8
24
41,4
78,1
89
-9.8
Santa
Ter
esa
1,12
5,97
3,82
5
1,04
5,75
9,37
8
-7.1
Santa
Ter
esa A
irpor
t
0
0
-
Andra
de
1,19
0,40
2
1,89
1,95
7
58.9
Calexic
o
29,2
81,0
20
46,6
90,6
36
59.5
San Y
sidro
136,
804,
203
222,
947,
645
63.0
Tecat
e
1,03
6,81
4,23
0
973,
173,
711
-6.1
Otay M
esa S
tatio
n
25,2
80,7
97,8
96
27,1
87,8
70,2
28
7.5
Calexic
o-Eas
t
10,0
50,2
45,6
27
9,80
2,72
3,54
4
-2.5
Dougla
s
1,11
6,89
1,43
0
1,00
3,69
0,74
4
-10.
1
Luke
ville
9,98
3,27
3
8,66
7,03
0
-13.
2
Naco
113,
492,
349
36,8
99,6
51
-67.
5
Nogale
s
15,3
79,4
48,8
29
16,1
40,3
02,1
00
4.9
Sasab
e
570,
333
1,23
1,03
2
115.
8
San L
uis
868,
983,
561
960,
262,
686
10.5
Total T
rade
232,
758,
778,
755
242,
361,
849,
823
4.1
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy i
n 2008
By
Pablo
Camac
ho-G
utierr
ez, Ass
istan
t Profes
sor
of Eco
nomics
, Divisio
n of
Intern
ation
al
Bankin
g and
Fina
nce S
tudies
, A.R
. San
chez
Jr., S
choo
l of B
usine
ss, T
exas
A&M In
terna
tiona
l
Univers
ity
Vision 20
09
During
the p
ast tw
o cen
turies
, Lare
do h
as be
en at
the c
rossro
ads o
f U.S.-M
exico
trade
and c
ommerc
e. As th
e city
of 22
2,482
inhab
itants
enter
s the n
ew m
illenn
ium, L
aredo
will co
ntinu
e to s
hape
the d
estiny
of th
e reg
ion. T
remen
dous
effort
s are
unde
rway
to
maintai
n a co
mpetiti
ve bu
siness
envir
onmen
t. In t
his re
gard,
exten
sive p
artici
patio
n by
the bu
siness
commun
ity w
ill ha
llmark
how w
ell w
e are
prepa
red to
addre
ss bo
th the
increa
se in
growth
and c
ommerc
e.
The Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e, ov
er 70
0 mem
bers
stron
g, ha
s a vi
sion a
nd go
al
to fos
ter th
e ong
oing b
etterm
ent o
f the c
ommun
ity an
d reg
ion as
well
as en
coura
ge an
d
promote
the m
ainten
ance
of a c
ompe
titive
busin
ess se
ctor. T
here
are th
ree pr
ime f
actors
that b
ode w
ell fo
r the
futur
e of L
aredo
: firs
t is th
e grow
ing ac
tive w
ork fo
rce, s
econd
the co
ntinu
ed di
versi
ficati
on of
all e
cono
mic sec
tors,
and t
hird,
a sign
ifican
t pub
lic-
priva
te inf
rastru
cture
initia
tive t
o enh
ance
all ar
eas of
the r
egion
’s tra
nsport
ation
corri
-
dors
and s
uppo
rt serv
ices.
The 20
09 V
ision
Con
feren
ce int
ends
to foc
us on
the d
ynam
ic co
mmercial
viab
ility o
f
the ci
ty an
d the
trad
itiona
l link
ages
with co
unter
parts
in M
exico
and t
he Sou
th Tex
as
region
. The
mem
bersh
ip of
the Lare
do C
hambe
r of C
ommerc
e loo
ks for
ward to
conti
n-
ued
region
al an
d tra
nsnati
onal
coop
eratio
n. Thu
s, thi
s pub
licati
on is
a sn
apsho
t of
Laredo
’s rec
ent g
rowth
and t
rade a
ctivit
ies.
Formulat
ing a Visi
on
The
Purp
ose o
f the V
ision 2
009 C
onfer
ence
and T
rade M
ission
Econom
ic O
utlook
Rep
ort
Chambe
r of C
ommerc
e
Lared
o, Tex
as Volu
me 11,
Issue
1
May 20
09
Importa
nt Fac
ts:
• The P
ort of L
aredo is
the
larges
t port
of entry
on the
U.S.-Mex
ico bord
er, an
d the
third la
rges
t inlan
d border
port of e
ntry beh
ind Detr
oit,
MI and B
uffalo, N
Y.
• The P
ort of L
aredo han
dles
over 4
0 % of U
.S.-Mex
ico
trade.
• Ove
r 10,0
00 tr
ucks c
ross
at
the Port
of Lare
do daily.
Inside T
his Iss
ue...
The Stat
e of L
aredo’s
Economy
in 2008
.......
........
........
........
...... 1
Intern
ation
al Cros
sings
Pedes
trian .
........
........
........
.... 2
Vehicl
e ......
........
........
........
..... 2
Truck ..
........
........
........
........
.... 3
Rail ...
........
........
........
........
..... 3
Intern
ation
al Air C
argo .
........
. 3
Bridge
Rev
enue
s ......
........
..... 4
Constr
uctio
n Sec
tor
Buildin
g Perm
its ...
........
........
. 5
Intern
ation
al Trad
e and
Commerc
e
Retail S
ales .
........
........
........
.. 5
Sales T
ax R
ebate
s ......
........
.. 5
Reces
sion an
d Peso
Deprec
iation: W
hat a M
ix for
Laredo! ..
........
........
........
........
... 6
Other In
dicato
rs ....
........
........
... 8
U.S.-Mex
ico Trad
e in 20
08 an
d
the Port
of Lare
do ........
........
... 10
Laredo
’s eco
nomy s
howed
sign
s of s
lowing
down i
n 200
6 and
2007
. In 2
008,
the
Laredo
econ
omy s
howed
sign
s of a
reces
sion.
Pedest
rian c
rossin
gs co
ntinu
ed in
2008
its in
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 20
05; n
oneth
eless,
retai
l sale
s drop
ped w
ith re
spect
to its
2007
leve
l, an
d sale
s tax
reba
tes re
mained
stag
nant
at its
2007
leve
l. Veh
icle
crossi
ngs c
ontin
ued i
ts de
creasi
ng pa
ttern
that s
tarted
in 19
99. T
ruck c
rossin
g rem
ained
stagn
ant fo
r a th
ird ye
ar in
a row
. Rail
cars
crossi
ngs a
nd ai
r carg
o inc
reased
the r
ate at
which h
ave b
een de
creasi
ng si
nce 2
006.
The va
lue of
build
ing pe
rmits
expe
rienc
ed a
sharp
decre
ase. T
he nu
mber o
f emplo
yed i
ndivi
duals
grew
in 20
08, b
ut so
did po
pula-
tion i
n Lare
do. T
he re
sult w
as an
incre
ase in
the u
nemplo
ymen
t rate.
The to
tal va
lue of
U.S.-Mex
ico tr
ade t
hat c
rossed
Lare
do in
2008
incre
ased w
ith re
spect
to 20
07; h
ow-
ever,
U.S.-M
exico
trade
decre
ased l
ast N
ovem
ber a
nd D
ecembe
r.
Despite
the e
cono
mic ha
rdship
that
Laredo
is fa
cing,
the av
erage
citiz
en in
Laredo
is
bette
r off
today
than
, say
, a de
cade a
go du
e to t
he ex
traord
inary
econo
mic gro
wth tha
t
the ci
ty ha
s enjo
yed i
n its
recen
t past
. Lare
do re
mains a
s a m
ajor p
layer
in int
ernati
onal
trade
, a to
p-thre
e inla
nd bo
rder p
ort in
the U
.S., and
hand
les 40
perce
nt of
U.S.-Mex
ico
trade
.
(Con
tinue
d on p
age 2
)
Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development Quarterly Reports are prepared by the Center’s staff for the purpose of communicating to the public the Center’s mission, activities and services available to the area.
Have any questions about the Center, feel free to contact us at:Texas A&M International University Voice: 956-326-2545Texas Center FAX: 956-326-25445201 University Boulevard E-mail: [email protected], TX 78041 Visit our web site: http://texascenter.tamiu.edu
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asCen
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ersit
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