Jalisco added 10,159 formal jobs in November, ranking second nationwide and supplying about one in five new IMSS positions in Mexico.
Jalisco added more than ten thousand formal jobs in November, enough to place the state second in the country for monthly job creation. IMSS figures show that 10,159 new positions were registered in the state during the month, pushing the number of IMSS-insured workers in Jalisco to 2,074,139. Officials highlight that these are not just any jobs: they are formal positions that bring steady wages, access to public health care and contributions into retirement and savings schemes.
At the national level, November was a positive month but far from spectacular. Across Mexico, employers registered 48,595 new formal posts with IMSS, bringing the total to 22,837,768 jobs, the highest level since records began in 1997. In that context, Jalisco’s 10,159 new positions account for roughly one in every five formal jobs created in the country during the month, a share that stands out for a single state.
Mexico City still led the table in November, adding 32,824 jobs, while Jalisco sat in second place. The next three states on the list were Puebla, with just over ten thousand new positions, Sinaloa, with more than 8,600, and Nuevo León, with nearly 8,000. Those figures confirm that Jalisco job growth is concentrated in a handful of large, diversified state economies that continue to pull much of the national labor market forward.
Jalisco job growth in a cooling labor market
Looking beyond a single month, the story becomes more nuanced. From January through November, Jalisco has created 48,058 new formal jobs, according to IMSS data compiled at the state level. That performance is strong enough to place the state fourth nationally in year-to-date job creation. It also means that, compared with the end of last year, Jalisco has added slightly more than 48,000 workers to the formal economy.
Even so, the pace is slower than it was a year ago. Over the same eleven-month period in 2024, Jalisco generated 58,536 formal jobs. The gap of about 10,500 positions underlines how the labor market has cooled, even in states that remain comparatively dynamic. For workers and employers, that shift can translate into fewer openings, more competition for vacancies and a tougher environment for people trying to move from informal work into formal payrolls.
The national picture points in the same direction. IMSS reports that Mexico created 599,389 formal jobs between January and November this year. That still represents growth of 2.7 percent compared with the end of 2024, but it is lower than the 619,252 positions generated over the same stretch last year. In annual terms, the country has added 194,130 jobs since November 2024, equivalent to 0.9 percent growth.
Wages have moved more quickly than headcounts. The average IMSS daily base wage reached 624.9 pesos at the end of November, the highest level ever recorded for that month and a nominal annual increase of seven percent. That means each new job in Jalisco is entering a national labor market where pay packets are, on average, a bit thicker than a year ago, even as the number of new posts grows more slowly.
What the new jobs mean for families
Behind the percentages are some concrete changes in daily life for people in Jalisco. A worker who shifts from informal to formal employment gains access to IMSS medical services for themselves and their dependents, plus coverage for work injuries and sick leave. Their employer must also contribute to retirement savings and other benefits, offering a level of long-term security that is hard to match in the informal economy. That is why local authorities frame November’s results as a step toward stronger household income rather than just a statistical milestone.
The latest figures also reflect ongoing structural changes in the Mexican labor market. Part of the national increase this year comes from the formalization of platform workers, who are gradually being incorporated into the social security system under a pilot scheme. While those positions are counted at the federal level, the economic activity they represent is visible in large urban centers such as Guadalajara, where delivery, transport and services apps have become a familiar part of daily life.
For Jalisco, November’s performance sends a mixed but mostly encouraging signal. On one hand, the state is clearly punching above its weight, supplying around one in five of the formal jobs created in the country in that month and maintaining a solid pipeline of new positions through the year. On the other, the slowdown compared with 2024 suggests that local and federal policies will have to work harder to keep investment and hiring steady in 2026, especially in sectors that are more exposed to global demand and higher financing costs.
For now, the combination of record national employment, rising wages and a strong showing by Jalisco offers some breathing room. The question for workers and their families is whether that momentum can be sustained long enough to turn short-term gains into lasting improvements in living standards. The November data do not answer that on their own, but they show clearly where the state stands as the year draws to a close.
