Labor Instability in Mexico: The Case of Work Contracts

Abstract

Our object of study in this article is the scope of labor instability between Mexican workers, understood at the lack of continuity in labor relations. Many salaried workers in the more formally established sectors in Mexico are facing increasing problems of instability, expressed, among other ways, by the shortage of written contracts and the increase in temporary contracts. What do we know about this important phenomenon? What type of information is available on the subject? What sociodemographic and economic char­acteristics do workers have in different work situations? This study attempts to answer this set of questions from a socio-demographic perspective by using two of the most com­monly used data sources for the study of the labor market in Mexico, employment surveys and the Mexican Social Security Institute (imss)’s records for 2000 to 2009.