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Nearly Half of Mexico's Gen Z Is Outside the Labor Force

Women bear the brunt, with experts warning that insecurity, criminal recruitment, housing barriers deepen exclusion.

Overview

  • INEGI reports that 47.6% of Mexicans aged 15–29 were outside the economically active population in Q1 2025, equal to 14.5 million out of 30.4 million.
  • Analyses estimate 15.6 million young people are in vulnerable conditions—neither studying nor working or in precarious jobs—while youth unemployment stands at 4.8% versus 2.5% for the 15+ population.
  • Mexico’s youth cohort shrank by 3.5% between 2023 and 2025, about 1.1 million fewer people, raising concerns about long-term labor supply and productivity.
  • Conavi counts 9.8 million people aged 12–29 living in homes with housing backlog and notes young people dominate rentals due to limited access to mortgage credit.
  • Civil-society groups cite 69,331 disappearances of 15–29-year-olds from late 2018 to end-2024 and warn that recruitment by criminal groups remains untypified in Mexican law despite UN recommendations.