Labor contrasts: six out of ten Yucatecans, in the informal sector

At a time when an increase in taxes on formal Yucatecan companies, the most recent report of National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) realize that The rate of labor informality in this entity remains very high.

At the table of iInformality in Yucatan is from 58.8% at the end of the third quarter of 2025, slightly lower than that of the same period last year (59.3).

There are thousands of people and economic entities that do not pay taxes.

The above was announced in the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE) of Inegi on Yucatán, published by that organization on November 26.

The decrease in staff employed in restaurants is also known although, at the same time, there are increases in other sectors.

The survey shows the behavior of the Mexican labor market on the economically active population (EAP)occupation, labor informality, underemployment and unemployment.

The ENOE offers estimates for four locality sizes on a national scale and for the 32 federal entities.

In Yucatán, in the third quarter of 2025, The PEA was 1.3 million people (a participation rate of 66.3%). A year before it was 1.3 million, with a lower participation rate (65.8%), which meant an increase of 18 thousand people.

The female EAP was 539 thousand and the male EAP was 731 thousand: 14 thousand and 4 thousand more people than in the third quarter of 2024, respectively.

The Inegi explains that within the PEA the population that participated in the generation of some economic good or in the provision of a service can be identified (employed population).

In Yucatán, in the third quarter of 2025, it was 1.2 million people (529 thousand women and 721 thousand men): 24 thousand more compared to the same period of the previous year.

When considering the employed population in relation to the economic sector in which they work, during the third quarter of 2025, some 112 thousand people (9% of the total) worked in the primary sector; 306 thousand (24.5%), in secondary or industrial education and 830 thousand (66.4%) in tertiary education.

The remaining 0.2% did not specify the sector of economic activity in which it was carried out.

In the period July-September 2024 these figures were: 104 thousand, 316 thousand and 802 thousand people, in that order.

Commerce, which concentrated 18.7% of the employed population, increased by 10 thousand people. The manufacturing industry, which reached 15% of the employed population, showed an increase of 2 thousand people.

In restaurants and accommodation services, with 10.2% of people employed, a decrease of 13 thousand people was recorded.

10.1% of those employed were concentrated in miscellaneous services. The number of people decreased by 2 thousand.

Professional, financial and corporate services accounted for 9.2%, with a growth of 13 thousand employed people compared to the third quarter of 2024.

The agriculture, livestock, forestry, hunting and fishing sector accounted for 9% of the employed population: the annual increase was 8 thousand people, it is indicated.

Working time

The Inegi report also informs, among other things, the following:

In the third quarter of 2025, 10% of people worked less than 15 hours per week and 25% worked more than 48 hours.

However, the highest percentage of those employed (42.1%) worked 35 to 48 hours a week.

Compared to the third quarter of 2024, the percentage of employed people who worked between 35 and 48 hours per week increased 2.7%. On average, in the July-September 2025 quarter, the employed population in Yucatán worked 40.3 hours a week.

The employed population can also be characterized according to the size of the economic unit in which they work. If only the non-agricultural sector is considered – which covers 986 thousand people – in the third quarter of this year some 535 thousand people (54.3%) were employed in microbusiness; 184 thousand (18.7%), in small establishments; 85 thousand (8.6%), in medium-sized establishments; 75 thousand (7.6%), in large establishments; 54 thousand (5.5%) were employed in other types of economic units and 53 thousand (5.4%) in the government.

Between the July-September quarter of 2024 and the same period in 2025, the population employed in the non-agricultural field decreased by 5 thousand people.

In other types of economic units, the most significant decrease was recorded, with 6 thousand. In large establishments, it increased by 3 thousand people.

The Inegi explains that another way of characterizing the employed population is based on their underemployment status.

This is defined as the need and availability to offer more hours of work than their current occupation allows.

During the July-September 2025 quarter The underemployed population in Yucatán was 80 thousand people (23 thousand less than in the same quarter of 2024).

The figure represented 6.4% of employed people, a lower rate than a year before (8.4%).

The population employed in informal labor considers, without duplicating, those who are vulnerable at work due to the nature of the economic unit for which they work.

It also considers people whose employment relationship or dependency is not recognized by their source of employment.

Included — in addition to the population that works in unregistered microbusinesses or the informal sector — are other similar modalities, such as those self-employed in subsistence agriculture, as well as those who work without social security and whose services are used by registered economic units.

In the third quarter of 2025, the sum of people in all forms of informal employment was 735 thousand, 58.8% of the employed population.

The unemployed population considers those who did not work at least one hour during the ENOE reference week. However, you looked for work or carried out some activity to start a business or do work on your own.

In the July-September 2025 quarter, The unemployed population in Yucatán was 20 thousand people and the unemployment rate (TD) was 1.5% of the EAP. The percentage was 0.6 percentage points lower than in the same quarter of 2024.

The non-economically active population (PNEA), in the third quarter of 2025, was 646 thousand people (equivalent to 33.7% of the total population aged 15 years and over): 5 thousand less compared to the third quarter of 2024.

Of the total PNEA, 80 thousand people declared themselves available to work (12.4%); that is, they did not look for a job, but would accept one if it was offered to them.

For this reason, this group is considered within the sector that can eventually participate in the market as unemployed or employed.

For their part, 566 thousand people declared that they were not available to work because they had to attend to other obligations, or were interested, but their context did not allow them to do so (physical impediments, family issues or other conditions), states the Inegi report.

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