In March, employment in the establishments of the Manufacturing, Maquiladora and Export Services Industry Program (IMMEX) grew 4.4% to three million 226,983 jobs, with which it threaded 16 months of advances at the interannual rate, according to the latest report from the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (Inegi).
This payroll of 3.23 million workers (in round figures) is also 5.2% higher than that registered in March 2019, prior to the pandemic, according to the monthly statistics on IMMEX establishments.
Employment in the maquiladora sector returned to its pre-pandemic levels since January 2021, after having bottomed out in June 2020, when the sector’s payroll fell to two million 895,453 people, which meant the loss of more than 134,000 jobs compared to with February of that year, prior to the beginning of the confinements to contain the spread of Covid-19.
This means that employment in the maquila recovered nine months earlier compared to the total formal employment registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which could return to the level it had in February 2020 until October 2021.
The foregoing was achieved thanks to the close link between the maquiladora sector and the demand for goods in the United States, which experienced a rapid recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, due to the bulky spending of the government of that country on subsidies and support for people who lost their jobs.
Amid the anti-Covid-19 lockdowns, checks for subsidies granted in that country have translated into greater demand for products such as television screens and even automobiles, of which Mexico is a major supplier to the United States.
Sectors and states
As of March, the transportation equipment manufacturing branch is the largest employer within the companies of the IMMEX program, with 961,335 employed persons. A good distance away is the computer and communication equipment manufacturing branch, with a payroll of 384,865 people.
In third place is the plastic and rubber industry (196,783 employees), in fourth, the electrical appliance manufacturing industry (191,479) and the metal equipment manufacturing industry completes the top five, with 154,654 people employed.
The state of Chihuahua is the entity with the highest number of employees (13.8% of the total), followed by Baja California (13.2%), Nuevo León (10.6%), Coahuila (8.8%) and Tamaulipas (8.4 percent).