MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico shed another 83,000 formal tax paying jobs in June amid the coronavirus pandemic but the pace of losses slowed, according to data from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
Restrictions imposed on people and businesses due to the pandemic have choked Mexico’s economy, which has lost more than 1.1 million formal jobs since March. Analysts forecast the Latin American nation is on track for its biggest recession since the 1930s.
IMSS on Sunday said 83,311 were lost in June.
Mexico confirmed its first coronavirus case on Feb. 28. Since then, employers cut 344,526 jobs in May, 555,247 in April, and another 130,593 in March, among workers registered with the IMSS.
Formal jobs stem from contracts and include defined pay and tax obligations, while informal jobs are mostly cash-based and operate outside the law.
Slightly more than half of Mexico’s workforce is thought to be informal.
Analysts have been downbeat about forecasts for Mexico’s job market in an economy that is expected to contract by about 10% in 2020.
“We expect the viral pandemic induced sharp decline of real activity to lead to a major deterioration of the labor market backdrop in the very near-term,” said Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos in a note to clients.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Tom Brown)
