Chihuahua, Chih.- Despite the fact that 2022 was an extremely volatile year due to multiple supply problems reflected in the lack of components and inputs in the automotive sector, among others, the maquiladora and manufacturing export industry (IMMEX) had important achievements and grew by 23 thousand new jobs, said Román Rivas Hong. The president of Index Chihuahua pointed out that the fact that they have grown as an industry despite such conditions is a sign of the confidence of investors in the state. He pointed out that investors look at the quality of what Chihuahua's labor force offers, without labor or other conflicts that could affect manufacturing processes. He also mentioned the logistic problems as an impact after the effects of Covid, which caused the closing of ports, there were not so many people available to work, it was also combined with the situations in other countries that supported the population with money and many did not want to return to work, this caused the shortage of many materials, the war conflict in Russia and Ukraine that caused an increase in natural gas and increased demand. The president of Index Chihuahua highlighted the fact that the IMMEX sector has decades without labor conflicts, decades of developing different types of manufacturing processes such as aerospace, automotive, consumer, electronics; all that adds up. He considered that now the challenge is how to increase Index's role in the central-south region of the entity, and seek to attract more investment through more infrastructure, electric power, and sufficient personnel capacity, especially for it to be high-tech investment that requires technical and administrative knowledge to manufacture different products. "All this in the search to strengthen the vocations of each region," concluded the head of Index Chihuahua. Source: El Diario https://diario.mx/economia/creo-maquila-23-mil-nuevos-empleos-20221231-2008801.html