Weekly Report - 26 August 2003

EMPLOYMENT | Jobless rate continues to worsen. Mexico's official `open unemployment rate' (TDA) rose again in July, to 3.52% (from 3.2% in July) - more than what most economist and financial analysts had been expecting. The July rate is the highest in five years, only a smidgen off the peak of 3.53% registered in February 1998. The worst rates were recorded in Chihuahua (6%), Toluca (5.5%), Durango (5.2%) and Saltillo (5.2%); the best in Campeche and Cancún (0.9%), and Acapulco (0.5%).