The contraction in occupancy levels was reflected in a growth in unemployment, which had remained stable in the last quarters of last year.
In the first month of the year, 234,608 jobs were lost in Mexico. Subordinate, formal and women's work were the most affected by the destruction of jobs, according to what was reported by the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE).
The contraction in occupancy levels was reflected in a growth in unemployment, which remained stable in the last quarters of last year. In this way, the unemployment rate stood at 2.9%, which represents an increase of 0.3% compared to December.
The loss of employment also influenced an increase in the Non-Economically Active Population (PNEA), concentrated in the “available” classification; as a result of this, extended unemployment also showed an increase, going from 9.9 to 10.4 %.
The elimination of jobs was concentrated in the formal sector with a loss of 395,515 positions, on the other hand, the informal economy added 160,907 people to an occupation. With these movements, the informality rate in Mexico went from 53.6 to 54.1%.
Subordinate work was the other line most affected at the beginning of 2024, in this area 947,813 jobs were lost, this fall could not be compensated by the generation of positions in the categories of employers (+652,434), self-employment (+19,983) and unpaid work (+40,788).
In the case of female employment, there was a setback in the progress observed in recent months. ENOE data show that all the jobs eliminated were for women, the female population with an occupation decreased by just over half a million.
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR LEADS LOSSES
The only sector of the Mexican economy that had a negative overall balance was the industrial sector, in which 789,295 jobs were lost. Within this, manufacturing work led the decline and broke with the good progress shown in the last two months.
The agriculture, livestock and fishing sector was positioned as the engine of job creation in January of this year with the incorporation of 303,795 people to the employed population.
The services sector also performed well in generating employment with a general balance of 289,558 jobs. The subsectors with the best performance were restaurants, social services and miscellaneous services.
