The rise of automation technology poses one of the biggest threats to jobs in the 21st century. But the Mexican case is particularly painful because of its growth model, in which low wages play a key role, as reported in El País.

And while media puts attention into Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies, maquilas - Mexico’s low-cost processing and assembly plants located in duty-free zones - try to figure out how they wil survive when robots come to take out their low wage jobs.

According to a recent study by global management consultants McKinsey & Company, Mexico ranks seventh in the world when it comes to the percentage of jobs that run the risk of being replaced by machines (52%). This figure rises to 64% in the case of industry, which is one of the country’s major sources of jobs.

Unlike countries such as China, where labor costs have tended to rise along with the economy and the production of greater aggregate value goods, Mexico has focused on wage competitiveness for the last few decades to attract more investment and prevent manufacturing plants from moving elsewhere.

Read the full article in El País (in English).