Mexico added almost 600,000 new jobs last month, according to official data, but year-to-date employment creation remained in negative territory at the end of February after more than 700,000 job losses in January.
A total of 594,288 jobs were added to Mexico’s formal and informal sectors in February, according to the national statistics agency INEGI.
The size of Mexico’s active workforce thus increased to 60.26 million people.
The addition of almost 600,000 jobs last month came after the loss of 705,427 positions in January.
Therefore, in the first two months of 2026, there was a total of 111,139 job losses in Mexico. Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, told the newspaper El Economista that the figure is derived from the loss of some 127,000 formal sector jobs and the addition of around 16,000 informal ones.
Siller said that the data for February shows that “there is a return of people to the labor market,” adding that higher inflation and a reduction in incoming remittances may have precipitated the need for “more family members to work.”
Self-employment drives job growth in February
Almost six in ten (57.8%) of the new jobs added in February were positions in which people work on their own — i.e., self-employment.
The number of self-employed people increased by 343,584 last month to reach 13.75 million, or 23% of all workers. The total number of self-employed people is the highest since INEGI began conducting its National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE) in 2005.
In addition to self-employed people, INEGI publishes data on the number of people in “subordinate, remunerated” positions (i.e., employees) and unpaid positions. It also publishes data on employers. In February, the following changes occurred:
- The number of people in unpaid positions increased by 153,673 to 1.91 million in February, representing 3% of the total active workforce. In February, the increase in the number of people in these positions was the second biggest driver of job growth.
- The number of people in “subordinated, remunerated” positions increased by 66,904 to 41.42 million, representing 68.7% of the total active workforce. In February, the increase in the number of people in these positions was the third biggest driver of job growth.
- The number of employers increased by 30,127 to 3.13 million, representing 5.2% of the total active workforce. In February, the increase in the number of employers was the fourth biggest driver of job growth.
Of the 594,288 jobs added in February, 54.9% were formal sector positions while the remainder were informal sector ones. Informal sector workers don’t pay income tax and generally don’t have access to benefits such as social security and paid vacations.
Almost 80% of the new jobs added in February were in the tertiary or services sector, while 14% were in the secondary sector, 3% in the primary sector and 2% in unspecified sectors.
Other ENOE results
Below is a summary of some of the other results of INEGI’s National Survey of Occupation and Employment in February.
- The unemployment rate was 2.6%, down from 2.7% in January, but up from 2.5% in February 2025.
- The underemployment rate was 7%, up from 6.1% in January, and 6.3% in February 2025.
- The informality rate — the percentage of total workers employed in the informal sector — was 54.8%, down from 54.9% in January, but up from 54.5% in February 2025.
- The number of people in jobs increased 1.8% compared to February 2025.
- The number of unemployed people increased 5% annually to 1.6 million.
Annual job losses and gains
In the 12 months to the end of February, jobs were lost in the following sectors:
- Agriculture, ranching, forestry, hunting and fishing: 113,229 job losses.
- Mining and electricity: 60,579 job losses.
- Restaurants and accommodation services: 58,611 job losses.
In the 12 months to the end of February, jobs were added in the following sectors:
- Government and international organizations: 287,726 jobs added.
- Transport, communications, mail and storage: 268,101 jobs added.
- Manufacturing: 235,959 jobs added.
- Services (various): 183,598 jobs added.
- Commerce (including retail): 175,226 jobs added.
- Social services: 84,279 jobs added.
- Construction: 71,870 jobs added.
- Profession, financial and corporate services: 15,215 jobs added.
With reports from El Economista
