Mexico's formal jobs since 2000: nearly twice as many, through two large losses
IMSS counted 22.9 million registered jobs at the end of September 2026, a record. In 2000, the average was 12.4 million insured workers. In between came two large losses, in 2008 and 2009, and in 2020.
Jobs registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) reached 22,927,276 on 30 September 2026, the highest figure in the series, according to IMSS bulletin 539/2026 of 8 October 2026. Our sister site covers the month itself. What follows traces the count back to 2000.
A quarter century of the count
In 2000, IMSS insured an average of 12,420,898 workers over the year, according to its statistical tables. The two figures are not quite the same measure: IMSS changed its method in July 1997, and today it counts registered jobs, so a person with two registered jobs counts twice. With that caveat, the formal count is about 1.8 times what it was at the turn of the century.
The current series also has a recent addition. Since 2025, people who work through digital platforms have been registered under a new scheme, and the September 2026 total includes 207,387 of those jobs. Comparisons with earlier years should keep that in mind.
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Millions. 2000: insured workers, annual average (12.4). February 2020: registered jobs before the pandemic (20.6). 30 September 2026: registered jobs, including 207,387 platform jobs (22.9).
Two large losses
The global financial crisis cost 701,316 insured jobs between October 2008 and May 2009, according to the CEFP, the public finance research center of Mexico's Chamber of Deputies. The pandemic cost more: from 20,613,536 jobs in February 2020, the count lost 1,117,584 by the end of July 2020, according to IMSS figures. It took until October 2021, about twenty months after February 2020, to climb back above pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg Línea reported in November 2021.
The part the count does not see
The IMSS register covers only formal employees. INEGI's household survey, the ENOE, counts everyone who works, and in September 2026 it found 54.3% of them working informally, down from 54.9% a year earlier, according to INEGI bulletin 634/26 of 22 October 2026. IMSS-registered jobs equal about 38% of the 60.0 million people the ENOE counts as employed; that is our arithmetic, and the two sources measure different things.
According to their calendars, IMSS publishes its October figures in the first half of November 2026, and INEGI publishes the October ENOE on 26 November 2026.
Sources
- IMSS, Comunicado 539/2026, jobs registered at 30 September 2026, 2026-10-08. Link
- IMSS, statistical tables, insured workers 1997 to 2000 (Cuadro I.1), read 2026-10-29. Link
- CEFP, Cámara de Diputados, nota 029/2010 on insured employment, 2010-08. Link
- Bloomberg Línea, formal employment regains its pre-pandemic level, 2021-11-12. Link
- INEGI, Indicadores de Ocupación y Empleo, September 2026 (bulletin 634/26), 2026-10-22. Link
- Wikipedia in Spanish, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (context), read 2026-10-29. Link
The same release, as this week's numbers, on our sister site: rutanamex.com/blog/formal-jobs-record-september-2026.
Newer: Mexico's growth since 1961: from about 6.7% a year to about 2% · Older: Mexico's inflation against its 3% target: inside the band, and above the pace the IMF expected