Mexico and the working population at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: Between essentiality and risk at work

Abstract

The arrival of COVID-19 in Mexico is not only a health problem but it has also led to a major economic crisis. This paper aims to determine, by using pre-pandemic estimations from the Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo (National Survey of Occupation and Employment or ENOE, by its Spanish acronym), the socio-demographic profile of the workers in four categories: essential occupations, chained to the essential, undefined border, and not essential. For each essential activity, we also identify the risk of contagion by occupation. With a multiple correspondence analysis, we present a global outlook from between socio-demographic profiles, working conditions, the essentiality of occupations and risk. The findings show a heterogeneity between activities and risk, in addition to the identification vulnerable groups: the elderly who participate extensively in essential occupations, as well as the youngest and women, who tend to be in essential occupations and with very high risk.