Mexico City Sees Rise in Unemployment, Informality, and Critical Employment Conditions in Q2 2026
Mexico City, August 26, 2026 – The labor market in Mexico City experienced a significant deterioration in the second quarter of 2026, with increases in unemployment, informal employment, and critical employment conditions. These findings come from the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
Informality on the Rise, Despite Being Below National Average
The employed population in Mexico City reached 4,873,434, with 45.30% working in informal conditions. This represents an increase of 1.19 percentage points compared to the same period last year. While still below the national average of 55.1%, the trend is concerning.
Vicente Gutiérrez Camposeco, president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services, and Tourism of Mexico City (Canaco CDMX), emphasized the urgency of combating illegality to curb the growth of informality. “Effectively, although the figures in Mexico City are among the lowest in the country, what we want is for them to be truly low because it serves no one if informality and illegality continue to grow,” he stated in an interview.
Gutiérrez Camposeco highlighted the issue of illicit trade, particularly in the Historic Center, where foreign merchants offer cash rents significantly above market value and with advance payments of up to two years. This practice displaces Mexican businesses and operates without tax declarations, fueling the illegal economy and leading to the irregular hiring of migrant workers. He also noted the increase in street vending, acknowledging that while most street vendors are Mexicans trying to earn a living, they are often exploited by their leaders, and questioned the authorities’ inaction.
Highest Unemployment Rate in the Country
Mexico City now holds the highest unemployment rate in the country at 4.2%, surpassing all 32 federal entities. Tabasco follows with 4.0%, Coahuila with 3.7%, and Tlaxcala.
The number of unemployed individuals in the capital increased from 203,534 in the second quarter of the previous year to 212,709 in the same period of 2026. This means an additional 9,175 people actively seeking employment were added to the ranks of the unemployed.
Critical Employment Conditions Worsen
The rate of critical employment conditions (TCCO), which measures the employed population working less than 35 hours a week for market reasons, plus those working more than 35 hours a week with wages below the minimum wage, and those working more than 48 hours a week with wages up to two minimum wages, jumped from 28.60% in the second quarter of 2025 to 33.58% in the same period of 2026.
Business Sector Expresses Concern
By the second quarter of the year, 20 entities across Mexico registered increases in their informal labor rate compared to the same period in 2025. The national informal labor rate stood at 55.1%, an annual increase of 0.3 percentage points, equivalent to 495,000 people.
Durango experienced a 4.32 percentage point increase in its informal labor rate, followed by Sinaloa (2.45), Zacatecas (2.40), Morelos (2.33), and Baja California Sur (2.25).
Nationally, 33.1 million people work informally. The highest levels of informal labor were observed in Oaxaca with 80.1%, Guerrero with 77.6%, and Chiapas with 76.9%. In contrast, the entities with the lowest levels were Nuevo León with 34.8%, Chihuahua with 35.1%, Coahuila with 35.5%, and Baja California with 36.2%.
Gutiérrez Camposeco indicated that the issue of informal labor will be a priority topic in the regional forums of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), of which the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce is a founding member. The upcoming forum in Querétaro will address this issue, as it affects not only commerce but also industry, the agricultural sector, banks, and insurance companies. “We have to stop this situation and then make it decrease,” he concluded.
Source: https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/desempleo-informalidad-condiciones-cr%C3%ADticas-aumentaron-023055010.html
