Unemployment rate falls to 2.72% and registers a new minimum due to adjustments in the EAP

The vacancy rate posted a new all-time low in February after a monthly decline from 3.0% to 2.72%, according to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE). This reduction in unemployment was linked to a downward adjustment in the Economically Active Population (EAP).

“The decrease in tvacancy handle It is due to the unemployed population, which dropped 25.1% in the last year, while the EAP only rose 3.0% per year,” explained Gabriela Siller, director of Economic and Financial Analysis at Banco Base.

For Juan Carlos Alderete, executive director of Economic Analysis and Financial Strategy of Banorte Markets, the behavior of the unemployment rate “contrasts with the seasonal pattern usual” because in the first months of the year unemployment tends to grow.

In the general panorama presented by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) for the second month of the year, the PEA had a decrease of 182,926 people as a result of the reduction of 172,972 in the unemployed population and a slight contraction of 9,954 jobs among the employed population.

After an atypical start to the year with strong job creation, in February the labor market slowed down the generation of jobs. This slight drop in the employed population was the balance of a loss of just over 400,000 jobs in the formal sector and the growth of 391,078 people in the informal economy, which led to the informality rate from 54.8 to 55.5 percent.