The decrease in occupancy at the end of the first half of the year left a lower occupancy level than that observed in December 2023.
In June, the Mexican labor market eliminated 863,862 jobs and with it, erased job creation so far this year. With the reduction, the employed population stood at 58.9 million people, a lower level than that observed in December 2023 (59.1 million), according to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE).
Until now, the labor market had shown positive signs in job creation, mainly in the first quarter of the year. The June results imply the highest contraction since November 2023, when 1.2 million jobs were lost.
As a result of this, the unemployment rate had a monthly rise from 2.6 to 2.8%, its highest level since January of this year.
However, the highest growth occurred in the Non-Economically Active Population (PNEA) with an increase of 652,669 people. This means that most of those who lost their jobs moved into work inactivity.
The behavior of unemployment and the PNEA generated an increase in the extended unemployment rate, which went from 9.9 to 10.2% in the monthly comparison, the highest level since January.
Of the jobs lost, 96% were concentrated in informality. The formal sector had a more moderate contraction with a reduction of 33,471 jobs.
This influenced a monthly reduction in the informality rate, which went from 54.4 to 53.8, its lowest level since December 2023, when it reached a figure of 53.6%.
The industrial sector led the losses
All economic activities had a negative balance, the industrial sector led the losses with a cumulative of 541,961 eliminated jobs. Within this, construction was the subsector with the largest drop (479,531 jobs).
The services sector was the second with the worst performance with a general balance of -231,538 employed people. Activities in restaurants were those that reported the greatest loss, followed by professional services.
Finally, agriculture, fishing and livestock activities had a reduction of 71,135 places and extended their negative results for the second consecutive month.
On the other hand, the line of employers (-425,238) and self-employment (-370,608) accounted for 92% of the contraction by type of occupation. The only group that showed a positive balance was unpaid work with a moderate creation of 12,778 positions.
