Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, June 30, 2026 – Mexico’s labor market added almost no net new work from January through May, sharpening a concern that the country’s low unemployment rate is masking a shift toward informal jobs rather than stable payroll expansion.
An analysis published by El Economista found that Mexico created only 26,406 jobs in the first five months of 2026, equal to 2.2% of the 1.2 million posts that Mexico, ¿Cómo Vamos? uses as the annual benchmark for absorbing new entrants into the labor force. The balance came from a loss of 343,905 jobs in the formal sector and a gain of 370,311 people working informally, according to the report’s reading of ENOE labor-market data. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
The number is not the same as the monthly IMSS payroll count, which tracks registered jobs with social security. That distinction matters. ENOE is a household survey that captures the wider labor market, including informal workers, while IMSS measures insured payroll jobs. Read together, the two data sets point in the same direction: Mexico is still creating some registered employment, but not fast enough to prevent more workers from moving into less protected work.
The latest INEGI employment survey shows why the headline unemployment rate can look calmer than the underlying labor picture. In May, Mexico’s economically active population reached 62.1 million people, while unemployment stood at 2.8%. At the same time, 33.4 million people were working in informal conditions, equal to 55.2% of the employed population, up from 54.9% a year earlier.
INEGI also reported that the rate of critical working conditions rose to 38.7% in May, compared with 36.3% a year earlier. That measure captures people working under combinations of long hours, low pay, or insufficient hours. The rate of salaried work also slipped from 66.5% to 65.8%, another sign that the labor market is absorbing people without necessarily giving them better job security.
The narrower IMSS data show a more positive, but still soft, formal-employment picture. The Social Security Institute reported 22.7 million registered jobs at the end of May, with a monthly loss of 29,922 posts. From January through May, IMSS recorded 201,605 new registered jobs, 81.9% of which were permanent. That is growth, but it remains far below the pace needed for a strong labor-market year.
The national data are not abstract in Puerto Vallarta. Tourism and services depend heavily on formal hiring during strong seasons, while informal work often fills gaps through independent vendors, small service providers, short-term gigs and family-run businesses. Informal work is not automatically weak work, but it usually means less access to IMSS coverage, credit, severance protections and retirement contributions.
Jalisco has performed better than the national average in formal payrolls this year, but its tourism sector is under pressure. The state’s statistical institute, IIEG Jalisco, reported 2,078,086 insured workers in the state in May, a gain of 5,290 from April and 24,211 from December. Services added 10,374 formal jobs in May, offsetting losses in agriculture and manufacturing.
The tourism slice is weaker. Jalisco had 152,918 formal tourism jobs in May, down 1,466 from April and 1,556 from May 2025. Puerto Vallarta accounted for 25,983 of those tourism jobs, or 16.99% of the state’s formal tourism employment. Tourism accounted for 31.39% of all formal jobs in the municipality, far higher than in Guadalajara or Zapopan.
That exposure is why national labor weakness can be felt locally even when hotel occupancy, restaurant traffic, or airport activity appear healthy. A softer formal labor market can show up as slower hiring, more seasonal contracts, tighter household spending, and more people relying on side work outside the Social Security system.
The labor data also fit into the broader economic slowdown PVDN has been tracking, including Banxico’s warning on weaker growth and the trade uncertainty around the USMCA/T-MEC review. Companies tend to delay hiring when investment plans are uncertain, and formal job creation is usually one of the first places that caution becomes visible.
The next read will come from IMSS’s June payroll data and INEGI’s next ENOE release, scheduled for July 24.
