Microbusinesses supported urban employment at the end of 2025

The population employed in non-agricultural microbusinesses had the most significant increase in Mexico during the last quarter of 2025, mainly in the most urbanized areas, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

When presenting the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), population aged 15 years and over for the fourth quarter of 2025, Inegi specified that the employed population, both formal and informal, in the non-agricultural field increased by 118 thousand people. The most significant annual increase was observed in microbusinesses, with 456,810 people.

In microbusinesses without establishments, 287,149 people were employed, three out of four in the most urbanized areas, and businesses with establishments created 287,149 jobs.

Low female employment

In the non-agricultural sector (which concentrates 49.2 million people), the number of employed women decreased by 127 thousand and that of men increased by 245 thousand in the fourth quarter of last year. The employment of men in microbusinesses and small establishments grew the most compared to the same quarter of 2024 (315 thousand and 146 thousand, respectively). This was followed by the employment of women in microbusinesses (142 thousand), detailed the Inegi.

The ENOE for the period October-December 2025 estimates that there were 59.79 million employed people, 298,308 more than in the fourth quarter of 2024. The sectors with increases in employed population were commerce (298,000), construction (106,691), transportation, communications, mail and storage (92,409) and government and international organizations (76,468).

The underemployed population amounted to 4.1 million people and represented 6.9 percent of the employed population, a proportion lower than that of the fourth quarter of 2024 (8.2 percent).

In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of self-employed workers (291,200) and employers (125,500) increased, to the detriment of paid subordinate workers, whose number decreased by 113.5 thousand.

The labor informality rate stood at 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, its highest level for a similar period since 2022 (55.2 percent). At the end of 2024 it was 54.5 percent.

The institute detailed that in the aforementioned period the sum of people in all forms of informal employment was 32.9 million, an increase of 493,821 people compared to the same period of the previous year, and more than half were located in the most urbanized areas.

The analysis by sex shows that there were 13.7 million women in informal jobs, an increase of 130 thousand compared to the October-December quarter of 2024. For its part, the number of men rose by 364 thousand workers, going from 18.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 19.2 million in the same period of 2025.

Formal employment fell by 195,513 workers in the last 12 months. Thus, the unemployment rate was 2.5 percent.

The non-economically active population (PNEA) in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 42.1 million people (equivalent to 40.7 percent of the total population aged 15 years and over), 1.3 million more compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. By sex, the PNEA of women was 29.8 million (54.2 percent), 699 thousand more compared to the same period of 2024. That of men was of 12.3 million (25.4 percent), 555 thousand more than a year before.

The available PNEA decreased by 168 thousand people between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the same period of 2025.