Jobs registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) reached 22,927,276 at the end of September 2026, the highest figure on record. September alone added 128,803.
Formal jobs added in the twelve months to September
Jobs registered with IMSS, net change over twelve months
Over twelve months, the gain was 355,594 jobs, or 1.6%. A year earlier, the twelve-month gain had been only 90,879, or 0.4%. From January to September 2026, the count rose by 410,200, up from 333,303 in the same months of 2025. Permanent jobs make up 87.1% of the total.
The average daily wage on which contributions are paid was 666.0 pesos, against 623.1 pesos a year earlier, a nominal rise of 6.9%. Annual consumer inflation in early October was 3.62%, so the average registered wage is rising well ahead of prices.
The other count
INEGI's National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), a household survey that covers formal and informal work alike, gives a different reading. In September 2026, it counted 60.0 million people in work, 267,000 fewer than a year earlier.
Unemployment fell to 2.8%, from 3.0%. But the share of working-age people in the labor force also fell, from 59.6% to 58.5%. The lower unemployment rate, then, suggests that some people stopped looking for work rather than found it. Underemployment, people who work but want more hours, fell from 7.3% to 6.7%.
How both can be true
The two numbers measure different things. The IMSS count covers only formal, registered employees. The ENOE counts everyone who works, including the self-employed and those without social security. When formal jobs grow while total employment shrinks, work is moving from the informal to the formal economy, or the informal economy is shedding people, or both.
Labor informality did fall, from 54.9% to 54.3% of everyone at work, but it still covers 32.6 million people, more than half of the employed population.
IMSS also reports fewer employers. Their number fell 2.9% over the year, to 1,008,760. More registered jobs with fewer registered employers suggests that formal hiring is concentrating in larger firms.
IMSS publishes its October figures in the first half of November. INEGI publishes the October ENOE on 26 November 2026.
Sources
- IMSS, Comunicado 539/2026, jobs registered at 30 September 2026, 9 October 2026
- INEGI, Indicadores de Ocupación y Empleo, September 2026 (bulletin 634/26), 22 October 2026
- Wikipedia, Mexican Social Security Institute (context), 27 October 2026
Figures checked at their original sources on 29 October 2026. See an error? Corrections.