Jobs in Mexico's extractive, electricity industries slide 1.5% in 2022

Mexico's extractive and electricity industries employed a combined total of 409,000 people at the end of December, down 1.5% from 12 months earlier, according to national statistics bureau Inegi. 

However, compared with November, the number of jobs in these industries plunged by almost 70,000, or 14.6%, in these sectors, amid weaker metals prices, a decline in FDI until last September and stagnant production.

Despite the drop reported by Inegi, the social security institute (IMSS) reported earlier this month that formal employment in Mexico's extractive industries increased slightly in 2022. 

This sector formally employed a total of nearly 131,200 people as of the end of 2022, up 1.1% compared with the 129,600 reported for December 31, 2021, despite governmental obstacles for the start of new mining projects and delays to some projects that already have concessions.

In its 2022 sustainability report, mining chamber Camimex said, "the mining sector has played a fundamental role in the economic recovery of Mexico thanks to the efforts that have been made to maintain jobs, as well as to create new job opportunities." The report added that the sector created 2.44mn indirect jobs in 2021.

Mining production in Mexico is estimated to have remained flat in 2022, affected partly by the weak performance of the construction and steel industries. During the first 11 months of 2022, metallic and non-metallic mining showed a 0.5% year-on-year drop, while mining-related services rebounded 11.9%, according to the IMSS.

National figures

As the end of December, Inegi reported that the economically active population of Mexico was 57.9mn, around 1mn more than a year earlier. However, that was a drop of 912,000 compared with November.

The unemployment rate therefore reached 3.01% at the end of 2022, its lowest level for the same date since 2005.

In his morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador attributed the drop to layoffs made by some companies at the end of the year before then rehiring the staff, adding that this is why his government has tried to combat outsourcing. He also predicted that the country would generate 80,000 new jobs in January.