Mexico | Labor poverty rises to 35.1% in the second quarter of 2025

Summary

This is the first update produced by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography on the measurement of labor poverty, following the 2024 and 2025 reforms that led to the dissolution of Coneval, the former body in charge of this task.

Key points

• Key points:
• After reaching its lowest level in 20 years, national labor poverty rose by 1.2 percentage points in Q2 2025, affecting 35.1% of the population. Year over year, labor poverty increased among the rural population and edged down slightly in urban areas.
• Between the second quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2025, average labor income (at constant prices) fell by 25.5% and 0.4% for the first and second quintiles, respectively, while the remaining (higher-income) quintiles saw increases in their average income.
• Cuernavaca (43.7%), Tapachula (43.1%), Tlaxcala (37.5%), and Coatzacoalcos (37.4%) were the cities with the highest share of the population in labor poverty during Q2 2025; Ciudad Juárez (12.1%) and Cancún (13.0%) recorded the lowest labor poverty.
• Labor poverty rose from 33.9% in Q1 2025 to 35.1% in Q2 2025, driven by a decline in labor income associated with the growing weight of informal employment (informal employment has been rising for five consecutive quarters, and the informality rate went from 54.5% to 54.8% over the last two quarters). In addition, the weakness of the labor market suggests that reversing this trend will require creating more formal jobs through increased investment.

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