search by some economists indicates that the pact has resulted in loss of jobs in the United States. Others say the United States is gaining jobs. Still others say no one really knows for sure because linking employment to trade is an imprecise science at best. "On NAFTA and jobs you're dealing with questions that are impossible to give definitive answers to," said Lance Compa, director of labor law and economic research for the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation. "What to blame NAFTA for and what to credit it with concerning jobs depends on where you stand, or better, where you work." The Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute claims 263,000 U.S. jobs have been lost to Mexico because of "increasing net export deficits" since NAFTA began. On the other hand, the U.S. Labor Department reported that only 90,000 U.S. workers have qualified for a program that pays for retraining workers displaced by NAFTA. Yet another analysis, by the National Foreign Trade Council, said that 2.4 million jobs are "supported" by exports to Mexico and Canada. NAFTA's effect on U.S. jobs has been minimal, according to the UCLA study, called "North American Integration After NAFTA." Increased imports to the United States eliminated an estimated 28,168 jobs the last three years, the study said, while increased exports supported creation of 31,158 jobs, a net gain of 2,990. Raul Hinojosa, who directed the study, said jobs that support exports from the United States to Mexico pay better than those that were shifted to Mexico, and that long term, the United States will gain more jobs than it loses from the agreement. Both the U.S. and Mexican governments report that unemployment has decreased in the first three years of NAFTA. Mexico's "maquiladoras," primarily foreign-owned assembly plants, have drawn special attention throughout the NAFTA debate. They are allowed to import into Mexico duty-free components and raw materials that are then used...
