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The slowdown in formal employment in Mexico deepened in April, driven primarily by declining investment and growing business distrust. The contraction in key economic sectors and economic uncertainty point to weak job creation throughout the year.

National employment grows, mainly driven by non-wage employment (+8% annually in March). Of 1.1M jobs created, most are independent and informal, raising the informality rate to 57.2%. The challenge is to formalize this employment to improve conditions and reduce poverty.

Formal employment in Mexico shows clear signs of deceleration, reflecting an adverse economic environment marked by domestic and global uncertainties. Although real wages have remained somewhat resilient, job creation faces significant pressures that negatively impact the total wage bill.

In 2025, GDP is expected to grow by 5.5%, driven by consumption and investment, within a context of disinflationary consolidation and fiscal-monetary discipline. However, two key challenges remain: maintaining fiscal austerity during an election year and making significant progress in normalizing the foreign exchange market

Formal employment began 2025 with a 0.8% increase, adding 73 thousand new positions—87.1% of which were temporary—reflecting the trend observed since last year. Despite the slowdown in job creation, real wages continue to grow above the average, supporting consumption.

Formal employment closed the year with an annual variation of 1.0%, well below expectations and the average of the last three years. Sectors such as manufacturing and construction performed poorly or negatively, playing key roles in this sharp slowdown.

We keep our GDP growth forecast for 2024 unchanged at 1.2%, and 1.0% for 2025; the favorable impact of economic activity in 2H24 is offset by lower exports and investment in the face of new tariffs next year.

The weakness in employment, observed since the beginning of the year, has intensified more than expected due to factors such as the closure of federal infrastructure projects and political and economic uncertainty. In October, formal employment grew by 1.4%, falling 0.3 percentage points short of expectations.