At the close of 2025, unemployment withdrawals from retirement savings accounts (AFOREs) broke records and climbed to 38 billion 882 million pesos , the highest level since 2005, the year up to which the National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (CONSAR) has records.

According to data from the regulator, around 1.94 million people requested this withdrawal from their retirement savings account, which represented an increase of 227,400 compared to 2024.

“This reflects that more people are turning to this type of support because they are losing their jobs ,” said Jacobo Rodríguez, economic analyst at ROGA Capital.

In an interview with El Sol de México, he explained that these withdrawals are also a reflection of how formal jobs are falling in the country.

The latest data from the IMSS shows that in December 2025 alone, 320,692 jobs were lost, representing a decrease of 1.4 percent compared to November.

Unemployment withdrawals are a right that all workers with a retirement savings account (Afore) have. However, making use of this right has immediate consequences, such as a decrease in the number of weeks of contributions or in the balance saved for retirement. To mitigate these impacts, people have the option of making voluntary contributions to their retirement savings account (Afore) that can range from 50 pesos to 100 pesos.

In this regard, José Miguel Hernández Durán, a lawyer specializing in labor law and managing partner of Laboral Pyme, warned that imposing administrative obstacles or discouraging the use of this right can worsen people’s economic vulnerability. He pointed out that, beyond unemployment, high job turnover also pushes workers to resort to these resources, since during transition periods they stop receiving income.

In that context, he added that there are campaigns that “demonize” retirement or make the process more difficult, ultimately affecting the worker directly by limiting a tool designed to cover basic needs.

The data from Consar shows that Afore Coppel led withdrawals during December with 914 million pesos, followed by Afore Azteca with 677 million, and XXI Banorte with 590.1 million pesos.

In the middle of last year, Consar warned that the misuse of this mechanism has been encouraged by private firms that, through misleading advertising, offer management services to temporarily inflate the worker’s salary before the IMSS and thus allow withdrawals greater than those that actually correspond.

According to estimates from the agency, 68.8 percent of unemployment benefits are withdrawn due to fees charged by these agencies, which operate between eight and ten thousand pesos per transaction. In addition to representing a significant expense for workers, the agency stated that this practice reduces their contribution history, lowers their future pension amount, and can even jeopardize their access to this benefit.

The Mexican Association of Retirement Fund Administrators (AMAFORE) stated that the increase in the amount of unemployment withdrawals is not something that worries them because it does not reflect the current situation of the labor market in the country.

Mari Nieves Lanzagorta, Vice President of Liaison at AMAFORE, highlighted that despite the increase in the amount, the number of withdrawals has remained constant in the last five years, even considering the spike observed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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