Mexico to lose up to 300,000 jobs, minister says

By Estelle Shirbon, Reuters
9:34 a.m. February 16, 2009

PARIS — Mexico risks losing up to 300,000 jobs because of the economic crisis despite a government infrastructure spending program that can employ some 750,000 people, Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said on Monday.

Mexico's economy is expected to shrink around 1 percent this year because of a slump in U.S. demand for manufactured exports from cars to refrigerators, while tourism and remittances from Mexicans living abroad are also being squeezed.

“The estimation we have is between 250,000 and 300,000 people,â€