However, the report does not detail how many of these jobs correspond to the mandatory pilot test that integrates workers from digital platforms – such as Uber, Didi or Rappi – into the IMSS regime.
In August, the Institute had reported that 133,178 new registrations in July and August derived from that program. If this level is maintained, more than half of recent formal employment (54%) would be linked to the pilot, which questions the solidity of the traditional labor recovery.
According to an analysis by Banco Base, formal employment accumulates an increase of 333,303 positions in the first nine months of the year, a drop of almost 27% compared to the same period in 2024, and the lowest figure for January-September since 2020, the year of the pandemic.
Even considering the positive effect of the pilot program, job creation is the weakest in 15 years, comparable only to the economic recession periods of 2009 and 2020.
At an annual rate, the total number of insured workers grew by just 0.4%, but without the component of digital platforms, it would have registered a contraction of 0.19%, according to the bank’s estimates.
The deterioration is also reflected in the registration of employers: in September the IMSS counted 1,039,227 employers, a decrease of 124 compared to August and 25,318 in annual comparison, equivalent to a drop of 2.38%. It is the longest negative streak in the history of the Institute, with 17 consecutive months of decline.
The average contribution base salary was 623.10 pesos per day, with a nominal annual increase of 7.14%, but a real growth of only 3.26%, the lowest since June. This, combined with the slower rate of job creation, caused the real wage bill—a measure of the total purchasing power of workers—to grow only 3.68%, its lowest rate in three months.
Although the data show some stabilization after the second quarter, analysts warn that the recovery of formal employment continues to be supported by temporary factors, such as the incorporation of digital delivery workers and drivers into the system.
The lack of transparency about the exact number of jobs created in this way makes it impossible to evaluate the real strength of the labor market, while the decline in the number of employers points to a lower capacity to generate employment from the private sector.
