Editing Operation Bootstrap (section)

==Effects==

=== Increased living standards ===
Those able to secure a stable job as a result of Operation Bootstrap received higher wages than before, in fact, "The average real weekly salary in manufacturing increased from $18 for men and $12 for women in 1953 to $44 and $37 respectively in 1963."<ref>Pantojas-García, Emilio (1990). ''Development Strategies as Ideology: Puerto Rico's Export-Led Industrialization Experience''. Boulder: Lynee Rienner. p. 86.</ref> The increase in industrialization and manufacturing saw positive effects in other places, as new electric grids were built, new roads were paved in major cities, and major housing development was underway. As a result, life expectancy in Puerto Rico jumped almost 23 years.<ref name="here">{{Cite book|last=Ayala|first1=César J.|last2=Bernabe|first2=Rafael|title=Transformation and Relocation: Puerto Rico's Operation Bootstrap - North Carolina Scholarship|year=2007 |url=https://northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5149/9780807895535_ayala/upso-9780807831137-chapter-10?rskey=n4qOja&result=2#upso-9780807831137-note-342|language=en|doi=10.5149/9780807895535_ayala|isbn=9780807831137 }}</ref>

=== Shift in job market ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Salaried employees in Puerto Rico during Operation Bootstrap
|-
! style="text-align: left" | Decade
! style="text-align: right" | Jobs in fishing & agriculture
! style="text-align: right" | Decade-over-decade ratio
! style="text-align: right" | Jobs in manufacturing
! style="text-align: right" | Decade-over-decade ratio
! style="text-align: right" | Employment net loss{{efn|While the total sum of employment in fishing, agriculture, and manufacturing did experience a net loss, the industrialization process created jobs in other sectors. The net loss portrayed in this table only takes into account direct jobs associated within these industries without taking into account the indirect jobs associated with them such as those in the [[service industry of Puerto Rico|service industry]] and government. The financial sector grew from 10% of GNP in 1950 to 14.4% in 1980, and the governmental sector grew from 10% in 1950 to 17.1% in 1980.<ref name="National Endowment for the Humanities" /> Regardless of all this, Puerto Rico did experience an overall net loss due to Bootstrap. The data show that the new economic model generated growth but no employment. New jobs created in manufacturing did not fully compensate for jobs lost in agriculture.<ref name="aspectos-sociales-fph">{{cite web |title=Aspectos sociales de Manos a la Obra |url=http://www.enciclopediapr.org/esp/article.cfm?ref=06102003&page=4 |publisher=Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades |access-date=October 6, 2013 |language=es}}</ref>}}
! style="text-align: right" | Employment net loss ratio
|-
| 1940s
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="230000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 230,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="0" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: center; width: 33%" | N/A
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="56000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 56,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="0" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: center; width: 36%" | N/A
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="0" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: center; width: 33%" | N/A
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="0" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{steady}} || style="text-align: center; width: 33%" | N/A
|}
|-
| 1950s
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="216000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 216,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="6.08" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 6.08%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="55000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 55,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="1.79" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 1.79%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="15000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 15,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="5.24" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 5.24%
|}
|-
| 1960s
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="125000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 125,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="42.13" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 42.13%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="81000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 81,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="47.27" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 47.27%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="65000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 65,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="23.99" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 23.99%
|}
|-
| 1970s
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="68000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 68,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="45.60" | 
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 45.60%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="132000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 132,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="62.96" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 62.96%
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="6000" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 6,000
|}
| style="text-align: right" data-sort-value="2.91" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 2.91%
|}
|-
! style="text-align: left" | Total
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 162,000
|}
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 70.43%
|}
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 76,000
|}
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 64%" | {{increase}} || style="text-align: right; width: 36%" | 135.71%
|}
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 86,000
|}
! style="text-align: right" |
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
| style="width: 67%" | {{decrease}} || style="text-align: right; width: 33%" | 30.07%
|}
|}

[[File:Salaried-employees-in-puerto-rico-during-operation-bootstrap.png|thumb|center|315px|Chart demonstrating how the [[economy of Puerto Rico]] shifted from [[agriculture in Puerto Rico|agriculture]] to [[manufacturing in Puerto Rico|manufacturing]] by showing how the salaried employees during Operation Bootstrap significantly increased manufacturing jobs (green line) while decreasing agricultural jobs (blue line).]]Manufacturing jobs also led to a shift in the job market as it pertains to gender. In 1940, women represented half of the total population of Puerto Rico, but represented less than 25% of the labor force.<ref name="Census. 1940"/> Women in Operation Bootstrap were targeted as an important labor force, especially for the garment and apparel industry, which represented a share of the manufacturing market.<ref name="centropr.hunter.cuny.edu"/>

In January 2024, the State of Puerto Rico relaxed its remote work requirements with Act 52-2022, which exempts foreign employers with no connection to Puerto Rico from withholding income tax for employees working remotely in Puerto Rico, provided certain conditions are met.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ogletree.com/insights-resources/blog-posts/remote-work-in-puerto-rico-a-legal-update-for-global-employers/ |title=Remote Work in Puerto Rico: A Legal Update for Global Employers |work=Ogletree Deakins|date=20 February 2025|access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref>

=== Education ===
At the time, [[modernization theory]] was the driving force behind American program development in the [[Cold War]] era. As a result, Operation Bootstrap focused on educational development to fuel economic development in Puerto Rico. In the 1950s, education was viewed as the cornerstone of Island development and was allocated more of the Islands budget than any other public sector.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lefty|first=Lauren|date=November 2021|title="Puerto Rico Can Teach So Much": The Hemispheric and Imperial Origins of the Educational War on Poverty|journal=History of Education Quarterly|language=en|volume=61|issue=4|pages=423–448|doi=10.1017/heq.2021.44|s2cid=240357510 |issn=0018-2680|doi-access=free}}</ref> From 1932-1957 the number of students enrolled in [[vocational education]] went from 5,700 to 110,000.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Porrata|first=Oscar, E.|title=Informe Annual, 1950-1951|journal=Facultad de Pedagogia}}</ref> The rise in vocational education was designed to prepare Puerto Rican's for work in factories newly developed by the Bootstrap program.

=== Mass migration ===
Mass emigration from Puerto Rico was a result of Operation Bootstrap. The growth of the industrial sector could not match the rapid decline of monocultural plantation jobs that characterized the economy of Puerto Rico Pre-World War II. Also, while U.S. businesses sought Puerto Ricans for labor, these businesses were still very willing to continue to seek new, and even cheaper forms of labor. High volatility in employment for those on the island was a direct result. This led to mass unemployment across the island, with the countryside seeing the largest effect. Residents were forced to either move to bigger cities like San Juan or immigrate to the United States for better financial opportunities and higher wages. In the 1950s (the peak of Puerto Rican emigration from the island), as ~470,000 Puerto Ricans emigrated from their country, they went to cities like New York City (where 85% of which people settled), Philadelphia, and others along the East Coast.<ref name="here"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Puerto Rican Migration in the 1950s|url=https://lcw.lehman.edu/lehman/depts/latinampuertorican/latinoweb/PuertoRico/1950s.htm|access-date=2021-05-02|website=lcw.lehman.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Puerto Rico|last2=Planning Board|last3=Puerto Rico|last4=Office of the Governor|date=1952|title=Economic report to the Governor|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1068228661|journal=Economic Report to the Governor|language=English|oclc=1068228661}}</ref> Through the 60's and 70's, emigration from Puerto Rico declined dramatically.

=== Coerced sterilization ===
Throughout the 1940s and to the 1960s, programs supported by the United States encouraged sterilization and birth control for the women on the island. These programs were birthed out of a perceived "overpopulation" problem on the island. Puerto Rican families averaged 5 to 6 people per family, and this was labeled as partly the reason for the unemployment and high poverty rates on the island.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Women in World History : MODULE 16|url=https://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson16/lesson16.php?s=0|access-date=2021-05-02|website=chnm.gmu.edu}}</ref> Luis Muñoz Marín was concerned that the perceived overpopulation problem could derail Operation Bootstrap, so his administration was in support. Across the island, the sterilization procedure was referred to as 'la operación." According to Antonia Darder, "By 1969, 35% of all Puerto Rican women of child-bearing age had undergone la operación."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Darder|first=Antonia|title=Colonized Wombs? Reproduction Rights and Puerto Rican Women {{!}}|url=http://publici.ucimc.org/2006/12/colonized-wombs-reproduction-rights-and-puerto-rican-women/|access-date=2021-05-02|language=en-US}}</ref>