There are 1.5 million jobs available, why don’t they fill them?

In October, a record was broken in the generation of formal jobs: 207,968 jobs, according to figures from the Mexican Institute of Social Security. In the first 10 months of the year there are 997,178 jobs, compared to a projection of 619,000 for all of 2022, which resulted from the Banxico expert survey. Jobs lost during the pandemic have been recovered in 30 of the 32 states. The exception is in two entities, Mexico City and Veracruz, which are still 0.6% and 1.8% below the number of jobs they had at the beginning of 2020. These two are not the same: CDMX has already recovered the pace and was the leader with 29,000 in October. Veracruz is another story.

Whats Next? The data for October is to be framed. It is the maximum record for a month and contributes to achieving the second best record for the January-October period, only surpassed by what was achieved in 2017. We can qualify and say that the complete map of the labor market includes more than 31 million workers who they are not on the IMSS radar, because they live in the informal economy. In any case, it is clear that there is no time to party, because the scenario is getting more complicated, given the prospects of a recession in 2023, and also because the conditions to generate employment in Mexico, at times, seem like obstacle courses.

The first adversary for the generation of jobs is insecurity, says José Medina Mora, president of Coparmex: “I visit two or three cities a week, wherever I go, the growth of insecurity is the main concern of businessmen” . Also very relevant are the procedures and regulations that are imposed at the three levels of government. In the procedures radar that Coparmex has, more than one new procedure per week is registered. The companies that most suffer from these obstacles are the micro and small ones, underlines Francisco Cervantes, president of the Business Coordinating Council.

The perspective of businessmen is key to understanding the challenge of creating jobs in Mexico. Not counting those lost during the pandemic, an additional 1.2 million are needed each year, just to incorporate those who reach working age. José Medina Mora participated with Francisco Cervantes in a meeting with journalists to talk about the labor market, in light of the employment figures. The conversation soon led to a question: is the pace seen in October sustainable?

The answer is interesting: There are 1.5 million jobs available in Mexico that cannot be filled, according to a study by Coparmex. The figure is so large that it seems hard to believe. It represents the equivalent of two years of job creation. There are places in the border cities, related to the maquiladora export industry. There are vacancies in tourist cities, such as Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, in the restaurant, hotel and construction industries. There are opportunities in the field, which has been growing faster than the economy for a decade. A Blue Ocean is in the digital transformation of many sectors. Tens of times more technicians and professionals are required there than the universities and the school of life can train.

Why aren’t those jobs filled? José Medina Mora offers a catalog of explanations: The demand for workers in the United States has caused the migration of tens of thousands of Mexicans, who are not available to Mexican companies; There are activities and areas where high turnover is a structural issue that has been going on for years, for example tourism and maquiladoras. Of all the reasons, there is one that draws our attention: the scholarships and incentives offered by the Government remove incentives for some people to look for work or accept job opportunities. The president of Coparmex cites a case that is occurring in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, in Chihuahua: there are 4,000 jobs available in the apple harvest, but they cannot be filled. Young people who used to do their homework now receive more than 5,000 pesos a month. Why work? Does anyone care to correct these distortions?

lmgonzalez@eleconomista.com.mx