The state has seen seven consecutive months of annual declines in the number of employers, from February to August 2025, based on employer registrations from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
At the end of August, Querétaro recorded 30,525 employer registrations, 175 fewer than in August of the previous year, when the number stood at 30,700, representing a 0.6% decrease.
In January 2025, the state reported 96 more registrations than in the same month in 2024. However, the declines began in February (-28) and continued in March (-66), April (-191), May (-452), June (-325), July (-454), and August (-175).
Looking at the monthly behavior of registrations, during the first eight months of the year, five registered negative values and three registered increases compared to the previous month.
Thus, January closed with 180 fewer employers than in December; February saw a slight recovery (+15), while March, April, and May showed monthly declines (-29, -22, and -225, respectively). June saw another increase (+147), July saw another decline (-23), and August was the second-best month of the year (+144), with a monthly increase of 0.5%.
This year, the labor market has contracted, a phenomenon also reflected in the employer statistics: 345 new employer registrations were added in the January-August 2024 period, while the balance is negative (-173) for the same period this year. Regarding job creation, 20,281 new positions were created in the first eight months of 2024, while only 10,628 will be created in 2025.
Through the employer registry, the IMSS identifies affiliated employers, although this does not necessarily correspond to a company, as the same firm can have more than one employer registry. Nor does it refer to an establishment, as two or more can share the same key. The figure includes employers with at least one current affiliated position, the institute states.
Relationship with employment decline
The reduction in the number of employers is reflected in the decline in formal employment, analyzed the Secretary of Sustainable Development (Sedesu), Marco Antonio Del Prete Tercero, although—he clarified—it may be due to multiple causes, from geopolitical factors to a lack of business planning.
“First, (the decline in employer registration) is the main cause of job losses, if the employer declines; there could be many variables; I don’t want to speculate on any of them. It could be due to the geopolitical environment, obviously internal movements. Why does an employer decide to drop out of social security? Much of it could be due to not having a suitable business plan and not being able to withstand the competition, and in that sense, the slowdown in job creation could come from there,” she explained.
Informality is a concern
The president of Coparmex Querétaro, Beatriz Hernández Rojas, emphasized that the downward trend in the employer registration indicator is worrying, as in some cases it could be due to companies migrating to informality.
“We are concerned because it reflects formal companies; it is the number of formal companies, and we don’t perceive that there is less economic activity; what it tells us is that many of them are probably moving to informality,” she stated.
This trend, he noted, could be influenced by the lack of incentives for economic units to remain formal. He also listed shortcomings in national social security public policies and the increase in fiscal responsibilities. He considered it necessary for these issues to be discussed at the federal level to improve the conditions of formal businesses.
“It’s because, sadly, there are no incentives from the country’s public policies; there are no incentives for formality. When we see a social security system where, regardless of whether employers pay their contributions, our employees cannot receive care because there is not enough healthcare personnel, (…) then employers choose to provide them with private care. (…) It’s very sad because, by stopping contributing to social security contributions, they not only lose medical care, but also many other benefits,” he commented.
Nationally, at the end of August 2025, the IMSS reported 1,039,351 employer registrations, which represents an annual decrease of 2.5%. According to the institute, this decline is mainly explained by the implementation of security measures in the opening of individual employer registries.
In the first eight months of the year, the country has recorded negative annual variations equal to or greater than 2 percent.
Source: eleconomista
