Claim: Mexico's economy includes extraction of resources.

The economy of Mexico is the 13th largest in the world in nominal terms and the 11th largest by purchasing power parity , according to the International Monetary Fund .  Since the 1994 crisis , administrations have improved the country 's macroeconomic fundamentals . Mexico was not significantly influenced by the 2002 South American crisis , and maintained positive , although low , rates of growth after a brief period of stagnation in 2001 . However , Mexico was one of the Latin American nations most affected by the 2008 recession with its Gross Domestic Product contracting by more than 6 % in that year .   The Mexican economy has had an unprecedented macroeconomic stability , which has reduced inflation and interest rates to record lows and has increased per capita income . In spite of this , enormous gaps remain between the urban and the rural population , the northern and southern states , and the rich and the poor . Some of the unresolved issues include the upgrade of infrastructure , the modernization of the tax system and labor laws , and the reduction of income inequality . The tax revenues , all together 19.6 percent of GDP in 2013 , are the lowest among the 34 OECD countries .   The economy contains rapidly developing modern industrial and service sectors , with increasing private ownership . Recent administrations have expanded competition in ports , railroads , telecommunications , electricity generation , natural gas distribution and airports , with the aim of upgrading infrastructure . As an export-oriented economy , more than 90 % of Mexican trade is under free trade agreements -LRB- FTAs -RRB- with more than 40 countries , including the European Union , Japan , Israel , and much of Central and South America . The most influential FTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement -LRB- NAFTA -RRB- , which came into effect in 1994 , and was signed in 1992 by the governments of the United States , Canada and Mexico . In 2006 , trade with Mexico 's two northern partners accounted for almost 90 % of its exports and 55 % of its imports . Recently , the Congress of the Union approved important tax , pension and judicial reforms , and reform to the oil industry is currently being debated . Mexico had 15 companies in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world 's largest companies in 2016 .   Mexico 's labor force is 52.8 million as of the year 2015 . The OECD and WTO both rank Mexican workers as the hardest-working in the world in terms of the amount of hours worked yearly , although profitability per man-hour remains low .