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Labor poverty measures, in the short term, the relationship between household labor income and the cost of the food basket, that is, their purchasing power. An increase in labor income would improve a household’s economic situation, while an increase in the cost of the food basket would worsen it.

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.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) estimated that 35.4% of the population in Mexico was in a situation of working poverty, which represents an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous quarter.

In a context of extinction of the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development (Coneval), as the agency in charge of measuring poverty among other evaluation activities, this note presents some of the results of labor poverty as of the third quarter of 2024 published last December 3.

This note analyzes the latest measurement regarding the proportion of the population in Mexico that is in labor poverty in the second quarter of 2024, carried out by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval).

In the 2024-I quarter, on average, the population in labor poverty was able to cover only 42.3% of the food basket with their labor income. In Baja California, Guerrero and Oaxaca, people in labor poverty can purchase less than 1/3 of the food basket.

With this note we analyze some indicators at the national level and by federal entities of the proportion of the population in labor poverty, based on the last quarterly update carried out by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval).