Fish traders in the Champotón port, in Campeche, the first state to return to a green traffic light.Monica Gonzalez / El País
Employment in Mexico, one year after the first peak of the pandemic, is not fully recovering. The jobless population in the country at the end of April has increased by 574,000 people compared to the same month of 2020. In total, there are 2.7 million unemployed people, according to the latest National Survey of Occupation and Employment of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). The unemployment rate stands at 4.7% and the informal work rate increased by 7.7% to stand at 55.6% of the employed population. On the other hand, the number of people who declared having a job increased by 12.1 million people to 54.8 million workers.
The unemployed Mexican population (that which identifies itself as unemployed, but is looking for a job) is 2.7 million people.
Since April last year, when the first peak of the pandemic paralyzed the service economy, there has been an increase of 574,000 people and the unemployment rate stands at 4.7% of the economically active population registered by Inegi.
This rate is the same as in 2020, since despite the fact that unemployment has grown, the population over 15 years old, considered to be active in employment, has also grown proportionally at 12.7 million people.
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Unemployment noticeably affects men more than women. In one year, men without work went from 1.4 million to 1.8 million while women increased from 724,000 to 911,000 unemployed. In turn, the lack of work is more evident in the sectors with higher education. 14.2% of the unemployed did not have completed secondary school studies, while people with a higher level of education without work represent 85.8% of those surveyed. In terms of age, those under 24 are 38.2% of the unemployed, an increase of 11.5 percentage points over the previous year. However, the 25-44 age group concentrates the largest unemployed population with 39.5%.
The surveyed employed population reached 54.8 million people last April. This figure has increased by 12.1 million people compared to last year when the respondents with work were 42.8 million Mexicans. 68.9% of them operate as a subordinate and paid worker with 5.9 million more employees than the previous year. 22.5% work independently or on their own without hiring employees and only 4.8% are employers or employers. The service sector welcomes the majority of Mexican workers (43.2%), while the rest are dedicated to commerce (19.2% of those surveyed with work), to the manufacturing industry (16.4%) , to agricultural activities (12%) and construction (8.2%).
In total, it is estimated that there are 30.5 million people who work in the informal sector, which represents 55.6% of the employed persons.
This rate has increased by 7.7 points in just one year.
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