The North American Free Trade Agreement has passed its third anniversary without the dire consequences predicted by opponents when passage was debated, trade experts point out. Proponents say that the fact the U.S. is at virtually full employment belies the argument that the free trade pact would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs as employers fled to Mexico to take advantage of cheaper labor there.

Here are some facts for the NAFTA record:

• More than 2.5 million jobs have been created in the U.S. each year since NAFTA went into effect.

• Many of the new jobs pay very well since salaries in export industries are generally some 13 percent higher than those in manufacturing.

• In the entire period of NAFTA's existence, only 125,000 workers have been certified by the Department of Labor as being adversely impacted by the treaty -- about equal to the number of jobs created in the U.S. every two weeks.

• NAFTA was not responsible for the collapse of the Mexican economy in 1995, since the agreement contains nothing about exchange-rate issues, and that economy grew by more than 5 percent last year with expansion continuing this year.

Mexico has repaid, with interest, all of the $20 billion line of credit extended by the U.S. to rescue the peso. In the new era of free trade, many analysts contend, Mexico is moving ever closer to a reformed and democratic political system.

Source: Sidney Weintraub (Center for Strategic and International Studies). "In the Debate About NAFTA, Just the Facts Please," Wall Street Journal, June 20, 1997.