A few days ago, INEGI released the results of the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE) with figures for the third quarter of 2021, within which the behavior of the Economically Active Population (EAP) made up of 58.3 million people stands out. people, as well as the Non-Economically Active Population (PNEA) in which there are 39.8 million people. Both populations represent 59.4% and 40.6% respectively of the working-age population.
In turn, the EAP registers 55.8 million people who are employed and 2.5 million who are unemployed, which represents respectively 95.8% and 4.2% of the total EAP. On the other hand, the PNEA shows that there are 7.8 million people who are available for work, that is, they are not looking for a job but would accept a job offer if it were offered to them. While people who are not available for work because they have no interest in doing so, or are physically handicapped or have family obligations, there are around 32.1 million.
If we compare these figures with respect to the third quarter of 2020, we find that the EAP grew by 4.73 million, the employed population increased by 5.02 million people and the unemployed population fell by 0.28 million. At the same time that the PNEA fell by 2.95 million, of which 99% corresponds to the people available for work. In sectoral terms, 6.9 million people are employed in the primary sector, 13.9 million in the secondary and 34.7 million in the tertiary, that is, respectively 12.4%, 24.8% and 62.1%.
This means that there was a growth of 0.4 million, 7.4 million and 3.8 million compared to the same period in 2020, in the mentioned sectors respectively. Finally, when analyzing the informal sector, the ENOE reports 31.4 million people in informal employment in all its forms, that is, domestic work, commerce and agriculture. The previous figure represents an increase of 3.9 million compared to the same period in 2020. The above means that currently of the 55.8 million employed persons, 56.3% correspond to the informal economy.
The reopening of economic activities has caused employment levels to begin to recover, however, if public and private investment continue to be slow, it is very likely that the rate of growth in employment will begin to deplete from the same way that the economy’s growth rate has already been exhausted. The ENOE data tell us that the economic recovery is taking place at the microeconomic level, that is, the income that is generated is based on the efforts of households and micro and small companies. This is due to the fact that the informal sector is the one that registers the greatest rise.
It is extremely important to continue motivating employment and occupation in order to consider the economic recovery in a macroeconomic way. There are several ways to do this, usually incentives from the government side, but given the current administration’s way of acting, it is easier to incentivize employment from the domestic market. Given the wage increase agreed yesterday by the federal government and the business sector, coupled with rising inflation, the issue looks very complicated. Perhaps starting by incorporating the elderly, disabled or temporary occupants into the labor market is a good way to turn around this problem.
Fortunately, there are several institutions, organizations and companies that, with the objective of achieving labor inclusion, carry out various activities to position people in good jobs; job fairs, training courses, labor market integration courses, training for companies on inclusion issues, etc., are some examples of this. The Universidad Panamericana with its COLABORE program, which cares for people with different abilities, is undoubtedly part of these efforts.
Salvador Rivas Aceves, Research Professor, Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of the Universidad Panamericana
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx