La Jornada: Employment in the Immex program continues a downward trend

The labor market in establishments with a manufacturing, maquiladora and export services program (Immex), which are closely linked to international trade, continued to employ less work in May, revealed the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

The personnel employed in establishments with the Immex program did not register monthly growth last May, while compared to the fifth month of last year it fell 1.5 percent with seasonally adjusted figures, to make the periods more comparable.

Hours worked decreased 0.2 percent month over month and contracted 1.4 percent compared to May 2025.

During the fifth month of 2026, the real average remunerations paid to personnel hired directly by establishments with the Immex program – in monthly pesos per person, deflated with the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) – increased 1.1 percent compared to last April and rose 5.8 percent annually.

According to Inegi, the personnel employed in establishments with Immex programs has fallen by about 120 thousand positions from 2024 to May 2026.

With original figures, without calendar effect, the total employed personnel totaled 3 million 185 thousand 348 people, which represented a drop of 1.5 percent compared to May of last year.

By federal entity, employed personnel were mainly concentrated in Nuevo León (13.4 percent), Chihuahua (11.9 percent), Baja California (11.8 percent), Coahuila (8.3 percent), Jalisco (7.6 percent) and Tamaulipas (7.4 percent).

In May 2026, hours worked were 601.7 million, 4.4 percent less than in the same month of 2025.