It seems that Mexican immigrants are less enthusiastic than ever to take those low-wage, labor intensive construction and service industry jobs we U.S. Americans are so eager to have:

* A recent survey by Mexican authorities shows that fewer Mexicans say they are planning to seek work outside the country. In the third quarter of 2007, about 47,000 said they’d be packing their bags. That’s down nearly one-third from the same quarter a year earlier.

* U.S. border authorities arrested just under 877,000 illegal crossers in fiscal 2007, which ended in September, down 20% compared to the year before. A drop in apprehensions is often interpreted as a sign that fewer migrants are attempting the trip.

* The growth rate of the U.S. Mexican-born population has dropped by nearly half to 4.2% in 2007 from about 8% in 2005 and 2006, according to an analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center.

* Employment of foreign-born Hispanics increased at a markedly slower pace in the first quarter of 2007 than during the same period in the previous three years, according to Pew. The slowdown was particularly noticeable in the bellwether construction industry. Growth in employment of foreign-born Hispanics in that sector was 10.9% early this year, compared to an average first-quarter growth rate of 19.8% from 2004 to 2006.

* The growth in remittances sent to Mexico has dwindled to a trickle. Through October of this year, Mexicans living abroad sent $20.4 billion home to their families, a 1.3% increase over the same period in 2006, according to Mexico’s central bank. Those sums were growing in excess of 20% annually just a few years ago.

We can’t imagine why this would be. Why don’t we ask Wayne Cornelius, the nerdily-named director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego:

“It’s the economy, stupid,” Cornelius said.

Thank you, Wayne.

The undocumented hesitate to enter a less-alluring U.S. [The Los Angeles Times]