Resilient Job Creation Despite Economic Uncertainty

During the first quarter of 2023, over 420,000 new jobs were registered with the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which exceeded its objective to create 100,000 formal jobs per month. This sustained job creation comes despite widespread anxiety that job creation would slow before an uncertain and volatile economic outlook for 2023. This a positive indicator for the institute’s ambitions to bridge the 1 million employment gap created by the COVID-19 pandemic, reports México Como Vamos.

“The current registration is below the level that would have been expected if the pandemic shock had not occurred. If we analyze the growth trend prior to the pandemic, a deficit of nearly 1 million jobs is observed,” reads the report. Moreover, the sustained addition of 100,000 jobs each month is necessary to “incorporate the people who month after month join the Economically Active Population (EAP).”

Throughout 1Q23, the market generated and registered 423,384 new formal jobs; however, while sustained, growth has been uneven across states and demographic groups. The states consistently meeting the IMSS objective to add 100,000 jobs per month include Quintana Roo, Sonora and Baja California. Meanwhile, the southern states of Guerrero, Chiapas and Veracruz have faced several challenges and failed to meet even 25% of the objective set by IMSS. Among them, Guerrero is the only state that observed a contraction in formal employment, losing 1,295 jobs the first three months of the year. 

From a demographics perspective, of the over 420,000 jobs registered with the IMSS, 259,697 were held by men and 163,687 by women. In other words, for every 100 men holding employment there are about 65 women, an almost heterogeneous gap only defied by Mexico City with a 100 male to 75 women ratio. Nevertheless, the report is careful to point out that this discrepancy is due to the protracted recovery of jobs occupied by men. Meanwhile, the peninsula state of Tabasco has the lowest gender parity ratio with only 35 women for every 100 men registered, despite having one the most competitive annual registration rates.