Domestic Work: Social Security Earned, Compliance Pending

ByCristóbal Martínez Riojas

This article by Cristóbal Martínez Riojas originally appeared in the March 30, 2026 edition of El Economista.

The enrollment of domestic workers in the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute) has not taken off nearly three years after the law forced employers to register them for social security regardless of the number of days they work.

This March 30th was International Domestic Workers’ Day, and in Mexico, incorporation into social security is stagnant and even registers a slight decline.

Last February there were 59,017 domestic workers with social security , 296 fewer registrations than in May 2023 when 59,313 affiliations were reported —the date on which the obligation came into effect—, according to data from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).

In percentage terms it represents a decrease of 0.49%, but in everyday life it is the lack of access to health and housing for this sector of the employed population in Mexico.

Social Security for Domestic Work is Now Mandatory

On May 16, 2023, the Mexican Congress unanimously approved an amendment to the Social Security Law that made IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute) affiliation mandatory for domestic workers. Previously, in 2019, a pilot program for their affiliation was in operation following a Supreme Court ruling.

Membership provides access to the insurance offered by the IMSS under its mandatory regime: medical coverage, hospital and pharmaceutical care, disability and life insurance in case of possible incapacity resulting from illness or work risk, coverage for accidents on the way to work, access to social benefits, retirement insurance, unemployment in old age and old age, among others.

However, despite being a right, it is still far from being fully realized by this employed population. In Mexico, there are approximately 2.3 million people employed in paid domestic work, representing 3.8% of the total workforce, according to the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE).

IMSS Affiliation of Domestic Workers

According to INEGI, 69.5% of people employed in domestic work do not receive any employment benefits.

“I do think it’s a great step forward that sectors of the population that were previously invisible are being included. Domestic work is undervalued by most people. They think it’s very easy. It’s a job like any other that deserves recognition because you also go and give a part of your life. I hope it reaches more people so they can have this right to health, which is universal and mandatory,” shares Rosario, a domestic worker affiliated with the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute) who asked that her last name be omitted.

“I think it is more about dissemination, both in the media and by employers; that is, they have to inform their workers because many people have no idea.”

Rosario has been enrolled in the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) since 2014, before the pilot enrollment program and before it became mandatory. She recounts that her employer registered her with the IMSS that year because she needed surgery. However, at that time she could only access voluntary enrollment and had to wait three years to receive tertiary care, which includes surgeries.

Given this background, the IMSS only migrated Rosario’s file to the mandatory program and her employer makes her contributions annually.

Paid domestic work is mostly done by women, as nine out of ten people dedicated to these activities are women, according to data from INEGI.

According to data from INEGI, 97% of all domestic workers work without a written contract, 2.5% had one, and 0.4% said they did not know.

“They are unaware that it is already a law”

Rosario says that the two people she knows who do paid domestic work are not affiliated with the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute). “They don’t have social security . There’s still a lot of ignorance about the fact that it’s already the law,” Rosario says.

From her perspective, it is necessary to give greater publicity to this membership program and emphasize that it is a change in the law that grants them this right.

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When is International Domestic Workers’ Day commemorated?

From her experience, Rosario believes that this program is a success, with aspects to improve, but that it gives visibility to domestic workers and grants them rights like other workers.

“I have received good care, it has been slow, but I have received it,” she adds.

Her affiliation with the IMSS has allowed her to have specialized medical care and medications for a chronic disease that was diagnosed at the Institute.

In 1988, March 30th was established as International Domestic Workers’ Day with the aim of advocating for the rights of this population, promoting their work in dignified conditions and recognizing their contribution to the global economy.