Thousands of free-zone jobs lost in Honduras in wake of accord to raise wages

At least 4,000 employees of three North American maquiladora, or free-zone, companies in Honduras lost their jobs when the firms closed down operations and left the country last month.

It is suspected that the moves are in response to the agreement last January between the Honduran government and labor unions to automatically raise the minimum wage by 6 percent in 2012.

More foreign maquiladora companies are expected to leave Honduras in the next few weeks, resulting in the loss of 3,000 additional jobs in
this sector, for a total loss of about 7,000 maquila jobs from February to March.

Source: Honduras Weekly