Abstract

VEGA BRIONES, Germán. Commuter Population on the Northern Border: The Case of Mexicali-Calexico and Tijuana-San Diego. Estud. demogr. urbanos [online]. 2016, vol.31, n.1, pp.207-238. ISSN 2448-6515.

The central objective of this paper is to analyze the sociodemographic profile of cross-border workers or commuters from the cities of Tijuana-San Diego and Mexicali-Calexico by sex and location of workplace. Cross-border workers or commuters are individuals who live in a city on the northern border of Mexico but cross the border daily to work in the neighboring US city. The information used for this study is drawn from the Mexican Population and Housing Census 2010; however, the analysis of the commuters' profile is supplemented by ethnographic information from various interviews with cross-border workers, mainly in the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali. We believe that this population provides a more complete individual, everyday image of the complex relationship that exists on the US-Mexico border, given the main feature of continuous interaction between both sides of the border. It will also provide deeper insight into a border reality based on the dependence created and recreated in both Mexican and US societies.

Keywords : commuters; work; US-Mexico relations; border.