Puebla Adds 6,700 Formal Jobs Through September

September brought 3,134 jobs with social security, according to state records, offering some progress after months of weak job creation. But the numbers also show the pace is not yet strong enough to materially shrink informality, which remains one of the state’s biggest structural economic problems.

For investors and business owners, the labor mix points to a market where demand can be uneven and wage pressures remain contained. A workforce concentrated in informal commerce, restaurants and tourism-sensitive activities tends to spend less consistently, earn less predictably and churn more often, making it harder for companies to build stable staffing models or for smaller firms to expand with benefits.

State officials are leaning on training and entrepreneurship programs through the local labor and skills agency Icatep to push more workers into productive activity. But the strategy has limits: small businesses often cannot afford formal payrolls, while many self-employed workers remain outside social security even when they are economically active.

Economist Marcos Gutiérrez Barrón of UPAEP said low incomes are encouraging some young professionals to choose informal work, including app-based driving, when the pay can match formal jobs without the burden of fixed schedules. In sectors such as retail, restaurants and hotels, he said, weaker tourist traffic can quickly cut earnings and drive turnover as businesses rely more on tips than base wages.

The broader risk for Puebla is that job growth continues without enough formalization to lift productivity or household purchasing power. Unless hiring accelerates and more firms can sustain benefits-covered payrolls, the state’s economy may keep expanding through low-quality employment rather than durable, insured jobs.