McAllen and Other Border Towns Trade With Mexico
McAllen rates at Number 4 Cheapest Place to Live in America and is the first city named as an Inland Foreign Trade Zone in the US, followed by many others.
Borderplex Trade vs. the Federal Government
Back in 1973 McAllen, Texas became the first non-seaport Inland Free Trade Zone established in America. By mid-2018, hundreds of cities became FTZs and dozens along the US-Mexico border enjoyed increasing Mexican trade.
The proposed southern border wall demanded by new US President Donald Trump during his campaign and first year in office was not appetizing to the cities along the border, known collectively as Borderplex. They would loose revenue if the concrete and steel boundary was constructed.
Today, McAllen enjoys explosive growth and the near-constant addition of new and beautiful buildings in our city.
— old.McAllen.net website; 2012Nature of the McAllen Borderplex
Borderplex, or McAllen Borderplex, is a kind of Tex-Mex metropolitan area that includes cities on both sides of the Rio Grande on the US southern border at Texas. It contains communities in both the USA and Mexico. The residents of Reynosa in Mexico and its surrounding smaller towns travel regularly into McAllen, Texas to purchase goods and services, boosting the Texas economy..
A metroplex census and labor-statistics area in America is an area comprised of more than one large city. The McAllen Borderplex represents two large cities, but Hidalgo TX is also a part of this larger entity.
Other American cities are parts of other Borderplexes in American. This includes Laredo, Texas and certain cities in New Mexico.
Major Large Businesses
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the McAllen Borderplex economy has shifted from agriculture to international trade, healthcare, retail, and tourism, especially among these top employers:
- Edinburg Regional Medical Center: Education & health services jobs of at least 3,000 workers needed. Employee turnover and new jobs creation increases this number. Even though some Americans travel across the border for healthcare, some Mexicans cross the other way to this installation.
- University of Texas Pan American: Nearly 3,000 employees.
- McAllen Medical Center: Education & health services: Nealy 3,000 employees.
- Hidalgo County Government: 2,500 workers.
- Doctors Hospital at Renaissance: Education & health services: 2,200 workers.
- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: Retail stores maintain 2,000 employees total.
- South Texas College: 2,000 workers.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Government: 1,800 workers and increasing.
- Rio Grande Regional Hospital: Education & health services employ 1,000 people.
- Mission Regional Medical Center: Education & health services employ 1,000.
Over 80 of the Fortune 500 global manufacturers have facilities in McAllen/Reynosa including Bissel, Panasonic, Eaton, Black & Decker, General Electric, Nokia, Johnson Controls, Sony, Whirlpool, West Bend and Drexel Meyer.
The area also includes call centers for companies such as T-Mobile, Hotel.com, Western Wireless, Ticketmaster, West TeleServices and Merkafon.
The Brownsville, McAllen and El Paso Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) have transformed over the past 20 years.
— Jesus Canas, Dallas Federal Reserve; January 2017The McAllen Borerplex is Economically Active
Some job seekers may not be aware of the existence of Borderplex, given the recent years of border wall-building and the focus on illegal immigration, but this border metroplex is active and even thriving.
The retail industry especially seems to be booming on both sides of the river, but more so in McAllen; with an abundance of sales and finance related jobs available in the Mexican portion of the metro area.
Higher paid jobs are available in McAllen, especially in growing fields of logistics, transportation, healthcare, and sales.
Interestingly, as of mid-January 2012, over three times as many jobs were open in the Reynosa portion of Borderplex as in the McAllen portion. While not common practice, some US workers are traveling to the Reynosa Area for work, but a working knowledge of Spanish is almost mandatory.
Immigration websites that explain moving from the USA to Mexico have indicated that visas and Mexican Passports are a matter of paperwork, fees, and waiting; and require no citizenship tests. However, these sites instruct users to contact employers in Mexico for jobs before attempting to move into the country. Also check on up-to-date crime rate information.
McAllen rates at Number 4 Cheapest Place to Live in America and is the first city named as an Inland Foreign Trade Zone in the US, followed by many others.
The work put into McAllen to build foreign trade has resulted in citizens of Reynosa traveling regularly into McAllen.
McAllen Foreign Trade Zone
The McAllen Foreign Trade Zone website defines this zone in this way:
A Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) is an isolated, policed, and enclosed area that is in or adjacent to a port of entry and is considered outside customs territory of the United States.-- http://www.mcallenftz.org/ftz_about_us.php
The site goes on to explain what can be done in such a zone:
Merchandise admitted into a foreign trade zone may be assembled, manufactured, manipulated, sorted, repaired, cleaned, inspected, distributed, repacked, and destroyed.
As the first US inland foreign trade zone not involving a sea port, McAllen feels that the free enterprise in which they have been involved since 1973 is unmatched anywhere else globally.
A total of at least 410 companies from 42 nations has settled in McAllen as of January 2012. Therefore, the McAllen FTZ is constantly looking to expand to fill more of its offices and warehouse spaces, using incentives on taxes, duties, and tariffs.
Across the border, McAllen FTZ opened FTZ Logistics S. de R.L. de C.V. in Reynosa successfully in 2008. Transportation and logistics services in the borderplex has increased since 2008, even through the Great Recession.
Advantages in the Borderplex
McAllen is a fairly large metro area, with over 830,000 residents in 2014, according to federal and local statistics and Sperling's Best Places.
Average home values increased every year from 2011 through 2018, but median home cost is only $127,000, compared to much higher costs elsewhere in the state.
Unemployment is less than the national average and job growth has continued through the Great Recession and through 2018.
The Cost of Living Index in McAllen is 81 overall, much lower than the national average.
Major Hiring Companies on the US Side
- Universal Health Services
- CRST Trucking
- CR England Trucking
- HCA HEalthcare
- Schneider National - Trucking
- Rio Grande Regional Hospital
- Pizza Hut
- Home Depot, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, JC Penney, PetSmart, Burlington
- Platinum Supplemental Insurance
- United Planning Group
- McDonald's, Taco Bell
- South Texas College
- Countrywide Therapy
Highest Demand Jobs in McAllen
- CRST company Truck Drivers with CDL
- Retail Managers
- Sales Representatives
- Event Specialists
- Pizza Hut Employees - All levels, managers, crew, drivers.
- Insurance Agents - Insurance and Financial Products
- Retail Salespeople
- DISH Network jobs, various
- RN Licensed Nurses/Travel Nurses
- Physician Assistants, Including Nurse Practitioners
Higher Education and Training
- South Texas College
- Southern Careers Institute | SCI
SCI in Southern Texas offers technical training programs like medical assistant, pharmacy technician, business accounting specialist and cosmetology at 5 campus locations.
- Texas State Technical College
- The University of Texas-Pan American
The University of Texas-Pan American public website, Edinburg, TX
McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge to Reynosa
Employment in Reynosa
Leading Companies Hiring on the Mexican Side
- Manpower: Temporary and temp-to-perm employment agency
- Indra Systems of Mexico
- Orgatour Administrative Services
- Randstad
- Adecco
- Arvato of Mexico
- 4Work
- Probecarios
- Temporary Services
- Osagui
- Human Dynamics Bureau
- Projection and Enterprise Administration
- GOH
- Pearson Personal Certification Company
- Services of Personal Communications
- MKT
- Solutions
- Halliburton of Mexico
First Person Experience
- Mexico's health care lures Americans - USATODAY.com
As the United States debates an overhaul of its health care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute. - Teaching English in Mexico : From Iowa to Reynosa, Mexico
Middle-aged woman from Iowa moves to Reynosa to teach in an elementary school.
Highest Demand Jobs in Reynosa
- Accountants, Auditors and Assistant Auditors
- Sales Executives; Account Executives
- Administrative Assistants and Executive Assistants
- Adjutant Generals
- Grocery Store Clerks and Managers
- Data Entry Operators
- Financial Advisors
- Sales Representatives
- Warehouse Jobs
- Messengers
- Retail Salespeople
- Security Guards
Job Listings in Reynosa
- UNJOBS -- Reynosa
News and information for Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico from the United Nations and other International Organizations, compiled by UNjobs Association of Geneva.
Education and Training in Reynosa, Mexico
Impulsora Rio Grande, S.A. de C.V.
- Antonio Rodriguez #613-A
Reynosa, Tamaulipas C.P. 88620 Mexico- Phone: +52 924 5823
Independence College
- Cerro de La Brenma 1234
Las Fuentes Coloniales, Reynosa Mexico- Phone +01 899 995 5302
Mexican-America University of the North - Reynosa, Mexico; McAllen TX, other.
- Guerrero Esq. Plutarco Elías Calles No. 1317 Colonia del Prado
Reynosa 88560 Tamaulipas Mexico- Phone +52 899 922 2002
Sources
- Ferman, M. Study details border cities showing benefits, challenges of trade. The Monitor; January 5, 2017. www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_f1e35f3a-fe44-5f6e-86b1-0a520e4527f1.html Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- Livability in Texas. livability.com/tx/mcallen/business Retrieved May 19, 2018.
-
McAllen Economy. www.dallasfed.org/~/media/documents/research/heart/mcallen.pdf Retrieved May 21, 2018.
© 2012 Patty Inglish MS