Publications

Formal employment in Mexico posted a monthly contraction of 0.05% in July. Annual growth slowed to 1.5%, and to 1.0% excluding digital platform workers. This dynamic is attributed to weak investment and low business confidence, despite an acceleration in real wages.

Social Security affiliation increased by 41,700 people and unemployment by 19,500. Seasonally adjusted, an increase of 72,000 contributors and a rise of 14,500 unemployed are estimated. The extraordinary regularization of immigrants may have added 149,200 foreign affiliates and 44,500 unemployed up to July.

This report analyzes labor productivity in China from 2013 to 2023. Despite a slight slowdown, growth remained robust. The key was the boom in high-productivity services, which offset the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, demonstrating a successful rebalancing towards a service-driven economy.

In June, formal employment in Mexico grew by 2.0% annually (IMSS). Excluding digital platform workers, effective growth is only 1.0%. This confirms a limited labor market recovery and a constrained impact from the 2026 World Cup.

The productivity debate requires distinguishing between output per worker, output per hour, and total factor productivity. Confusing these metrics can lead to inaccurate interpretations regarding the convergence of Europe or Spain with the United States.

Immigration has played a significant role in the recent improvement of GDP per capita in Spain, driven by increases in both employment and productivity. The key question moving forward is whether the Spanish economy will be able to better leverage the human capital it is taking in.

The national unemployment rate remained at 8.8% in April 2026, interrupting the downward trend observed since 2025. This result responded to proportional increases in both the employment rate and the overall participation rate. Thus, job creation continued to be dynamic, with an annual growth of 3.0%.