More than a third of formal sector jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic restrictions were recovered between August and October, Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) data shows.

In the last three months, 406,881 formal sector jobs were added, a figure that accounts for 36.4% of the more than 1 million tax-paying positions that were lost between March and July.

Almost half of the jobs recovery occurred in October. IMSS reported Thursday that a record 200,641 formal sector jobs were added last month. It is the highest monthly total since IMSS began keeping employment growth records in 1997.

The strong job growth comes after more than 92,000 positions were added in August and almost 114,000 were created in September.

Job growth in the energy, agricultural and social services sectors was higher than in October 2019 but the services, construction and mining industries all added fewer positions last month than a year earlier.

Baja California, Tabasco and Chihuahua, with annual employment growth of 2.8%, 2.7% and 0.2%, respectively, are the only states that had more people employed in the formal sector last month than October 2019.

Quintana Roo, Baja California Sur and Puebla recorded the worst annual employment contractions, with the number of people in formal sector jobs falling by 23.6%, 9.7% and 7.4%, respectively.

The jobs data for October provides more evidence that the Mexican economy is beginning to rebound from a sharp, pandemic-induced downturn.

The national statistics institute Inegi published preliminary statistics at the end of October that showed that GDP increased 12% in the third quarter compared to the previous three-month period. However, economic activity was still well below that of the third quarter of 2019.

The economy contracted sharply in the second quarter of the year, which included two full months – April and May – during which the government ordered the suspension of nonessential economic activities as part of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Some states, such as Chihuahua and Jalisco, have recently introduced tighter restrictions due to worsening coronavirus outbreaks.

As of Thursday, Mexico had officially recorded 991,835 coronavirus cases and 97,056 Covid-19 deaths.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp)