The unemployment rate in Mexico fell to 2.7% in the first quarter of 2023, down 0.8 percentage points from 3.5% of the same period of 2022, reported this Monday the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
“A total of 58.5 million people were employed: 2.4 million more people compared to the same quarter of 2022,” the autonomous body said in a report.
The Economically Active Population (EAP) totaled 60.1 million people, an increase of two million compared to the same period in 2022, when millions of people were still out of the labor market due to the pandemic.
The main year-on-year increases in jobs were concentrated in trade, with a rise of 566 thousand people; in the manufacturing industry, with 436 thousand, and in various services, with 341 thousand.
Even so, 1.6 million people remain unemployed and 4.3 million people were underemployedthat is, they reported having the need and willingness to work more hours.
The Inegi also indicated a decrease of 0.3 percentage points in the unemployment rate compared to the previous quarter, based on seasonally adjusted figures.
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Despite the drop in unemployment, the institute reported a year-on-year increase of 1.2 million workers in the informal sector, which concentrated 32.2 million people. In this way, the informality rate remained at 55.1% of the total labor force.
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The organism he also noted the persistence of the gender gap: while 76.3% of men are in the labor force, an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2022, only 45.9% of women are in the market, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 points.
By sector, the institute detailed that 6.6 million people (11.2% of the total) work in primary activities, 14.8 million (25.3%) in secondary or industrial, and 36.8 million (62.9%) are in tertiary or services. The remaining 0.6% did not specify their economic activity.
By region, the territorial entities that during the first quarter of 2023 had the highest vacancy rates were Mexico City (3.8%), Tabasco (3.8%), and Coahuila (3.6%).
JM
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