• RECORD: Informal employment in Mexico shot up during the second month of the coronavirus lockdown in what could be the largest month-to-month spike on record, according to Mexico’s statistics agency (INEGI). The total number of informally employed Mexicans reached 22.6 million in May.
• FIGURES: Drawing from a national telephone poll given the impossibility of conducting face-to-face surveys during the pandemic, INEGI estimated that informal employment grew 4.1% in May from April. Data from the telephone poll may not be entirely comparable to previous INEGI surveys.
• INFORMALITY: With a historically large rate of Mexican workers in informal employment (hovering above 50%), the relatively paltry government’s policy response to the coronavirus shock to help this and other vulnerable groups has longed worried observers.
• RECOMMENDATION: “Mexico should ramp up spending now to protect lives and livelihoods and craft a credible medium-term fiscal reform that provides more short-term policy space and close fiscal gaps.”, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last week given the size of Mexico’s response.
