U.S. Aid Agency and Overseas Jobs

On Sept. 28, The Times ran a front-page story headlined “U.S. Aid Agency Helps Move Jobs Overseas.” In fact, the opposite is true.

The real story about U.S. foreign assistance to Latin America and Caribbean is that it is stimulating economic growth leading to dramatic U.S. export growth and the creation of new U.S. jobs.

Since 1986, American exports to Latin America and the Caribbean have more than doubled to an estimated $80 billion this year. This export growth has resulted in more than a million new U.S. jobs being created.

With regard to the apparel industry, U.S. apparel exports to Latin America have more than tripled in the last five years. The growth has been particularly dramatic to El Salvador and Honduras, where apparel exports have grown from $29 million in 1987 to an estimated $306 million this year. This growth in exports to the region is creating new U.S. jobs. As one indication of that, there has been a net increase of 22,000 jobs in the U.S. textile and apparel industry over the past 12 months.

STEPHEN D. HAYES

Director, Office of External Affairs

U.S. Agency for International

Development, Washington