The Guanajuato footwear industry is about to go south and collapse: in fact, they have lost 12,000 jobs alongside a relevant share of production.
A few statistical surveys highlighted such data, subsequently confirmed by Luis Gerardo González García, President of the Cámara de la Industria del Calzado del Estado de Guanajuato (CICEG).
In April, Coronavirus outbreak heavily undermined the footwear manufacturing industry of the Mexican state in terms of employment. They had already predicted such business crash at the beginning of April: official data, made public today, have confirmed those estimates.
12,000 jobs less
According to data provided and made public by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), as reported by national press , in April the footwear manufacturing industry of Guanajuato lost 12,000 jobs.
The catastrophic collapse of economic activities, which drastically slumped by 87%, compared to April 2019, contributed to the fall of footwear industry jobs.
Of course, the pandemic, caused by CRV outbreak, deeply affected the business.
Yet, on the other hand, according to González García, the health emergency is also urging companies, which hold out against the crisis, to revolutionise their own business model by putting in place digital experience and virtual meetings.
An expected storm
Last April, González García himself depicted the scenario and emphasized that footwear trade would be facing “the most appalling storm ever”.
At present, as reported by local media, 3% of footwear manufacturing companies, 107 in total, which are members of the Cámara de la Industria del Calzado del Estado de Guanajuato, have definitely gone out of business.
They most fear that such heavy crisis will possibly cause some more factories to close down: in the event of further closures, economic repercussions and occupational consequences would be obviously serious.
In 2019, companies based in the State of Guanajuato manufactured 181 million pairs of shoes: about 171,000 workers were employed in the industry.
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