Weekly Report - 17 May 2007

MEXICO | Unemployment up. Open unemployment in Mexico rose to over 4% in the first quarter of 2007. In the first quarter of 2006 the rate was 3.5%. The figure means that there are 1.7m Mexicans who have not had even one hour of paid employment in the week of the survey by the official statistical agency, Inegi. In addition, another 10% of the workforce (or 3.3m people) are underemployed.