For the third consecutive month, the covid-19 pandemic caused hundreds of thousands of formal jobs to be lost in Mexico. According to data from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), in May 344,526 formal positions were eliminated, the largest loss recorded for the month since data is available. 

The decline in May occurred after the pandemic eliminated 555,247 jobs in April and 130,393in March. The loss of jobs in May is three times greater than what was recorded in the same month of 2009, the year of the global financial crisis, when 111,476 formal jobs were eliminated. The IMSS figures show that during the entire social distancing period – from March 23 to May 30 – more than a million jobs were lost, as Milenio reported.

“As businesses, public entertainment venues and recreational activity centers closed, national economic activity largely halted, resulting in formal jobs being lost during May. The low demand, the sharp drop in production and in the income received by companies caused them not to be able to meet their obligations and therefore to maintain their workforce given the health crisis caused by the pandemic”, explained México Evalúa.