Empowering Mexico’s Workforce of the Future
By Grant Doran
OPITO’s recent visit to Mexico City was an important reminder of why international collaboration matters now more than ever. As one of the world’s most ambitious and fast‑growing economies, Mexico is at a pivotal moment, one defined by opportunity, talent, and a clear desire to build a safer, more skilled and future‑ready workforce.
Throughout the visit, we engaged with a range of organisations across the energy and industrial landscape to discuss how internationally recognised standards, robust competence frameworks and labour‑market insight can underpin safe operations while strengthening local content and long‑term skills development.
The purpose of our time there was not only to meet stakeholders, but to listen. To understand Mexico’s workforce priorities first-hand, explore areas of meaningful collaboration, and consider how OPITO can support the country as it accelerates its industrial and economic ambitions.
A standout moment of the visit was a business breakfast hosted in partnership with the British Embassy. Bringing together leaders from government, education and safety‑critical industries created a powerful space for discussion. We also heard from Natalia Carrera Baltazar, one of the newly selected My Energy Future Champions for 2026, a new global initiative which brings together young professionals from diverse backgrounds, cultures and career paths to showcase the world of energy through social media and inspire the next generation. Natalia’s passion for STEM and the next generation of talent was truly inspiring. Her voice reflects the ambition we heard throughout the week: a country ready to invest in its people and its future.
Mexico is at an exciting point in its economic journey, and the scale of opportunity is significant, but realising it relies on building an internationally recognised workforce aligned to global safety and competence standards. That alignment not only builds trust, but enables workforce mobility, creates efficiency, and ensures that workers are protected as new industries grow.
Mexico’s Economic Ambitions and Workforce Opportunity
One year on from its launch, Plan Mexico continues to set a bold direction for economic development. With the potential to create 1.5 million jobs by 2030, the plan aims to strengthen domestic capabilities while positioning Mexico as a regional hub for energy, innovation and industrial growth.
Crucially, Mexico already benefits from a highly experienced, well‑established offshore oil and gas workforce. These workers bring decades of operational excellence in some of the most demanding environments, experience that will be invaluable as the country expands into emerging, safety‑critical sectors. As Mexico diversifies its energy and industrial landscape, this workforce is likely to play a pivotal role in supporting and accelerating growth across new industries.
As these sectors expand, the responsibility to ensure consistent, high‑quality training becomes even more important. Safety cannot be an optional add‑on, it is a fundamental right for every worker, regardless of the industry in which they operate.
The Importance of International Standards
Like many rapidly growing economies, Mexico faces skilled‑talent shortages across several industries. Aligning training and competence frameworks to shared international standards provides a practical and powerful solution.
International alignment expands access to a larger, more flexible, and mobile talent pool; reduces duplication and lowers training costs; enables faster onboarding; and equips workers with transferable skills that support long‑term career progression. For Mexico, this is especially important.
The country’s established offshore oil and gas workforce already possesses a deep reservoir of safety, technical, and operational expertise, skills that are highly relevant across emerging industries such as offshore wind, hydrogen, and advanced manufacturing. By aligning national training and competence frameworks with internationally recognised standards, Mexico can ensure this legacy workforce is able to move seamlessly into new sectors and regions, without retraining from the ground up or facing barriers to mobility.
This approach not only positions Mexico to meet future workforce demands but also strengthens today’s economy. Investing in the oil and gas workforce now, ensuring they maintain high‑quality, globally aligned competencies, supports current industrial productivity while simultaneously preparing workers for the transition. Embedding recognised global best practice ensures young people entering the workforce begin their careers with credentials that are respected worldwide, enabling them to work safely and confidently wherever their careers take them.
Supporting Long‑Term Workforce Development
Mexico has the potential to become one of the world’s largest economies, and with that comes an opportunity to shape global approaches to safety and competence. OPITO’s global experience demonstrates how labour‑market intelligence, competence management and coordinated training frameworks can accelerate workforce development and strengthen local content.
As the global, not‑for‑profit safety and skills authority, OPITO reinvests revenue into STEM programmes and research to help equip the next generation. These initiatives, which range from practical workshops that bring energy to life through real-world applications to an online hub showcasing the sector’s many career opportunities will be an increasing area of focus in Mexico from 2026 onward.
Inspiring the Next Generation
A central part of OPITO’s mission is ensuring young people can see clear, exciting pathways into the global energy industry. My Energy Future, OPITO’s STEM initiative for 13–18‑year‑olds, brings these careers to life through authentic stories shared by young professionals.
Natalia Carrera Baltazar joining as one of this year’s My Energy Future Champion highlights the talent and ambition emerging across Mexico. Her advocacy for young women in STEM underscores the importance of visible role models and the transformative effect that accessible, consistent training can have on young people.
Effective workforce development does more than support industry; it changes lives. Internationally recognised training opens doors to global mobility, economic independence, and improved quality of life. For the millions of Mexicans who currently face barriers to opportunity, this could be truly transformational.
Key Takeaways and Looking Ahead
Our time spent in Mexico City reinforced my view that Mexico has a generational opportunity to build a future‑ready workforce at scale, with safety firmly embedded at the centre of its economic and industrial transformation. The adoption of internationally recognised standards will be essential in unlocking workforce mobility, improving efficiency and strengthening local content as new sectors continue to grow. Equally, inspiring young people and creating visible, credible pathways into STEM will play a decisive role in shaping the nation’s long‑term success. What became clear throughout our discussions is that meaningful collaboration between government, industry and education will determine the strength and sustainability of Mexico’s future workforce.
Looking ahead, OPITO will continue to engage closely with partners to explore opportunities for deeper collaboration. I strongly encourage organisations across Mexico’s energy and industrial sectors to participate in OPITO’s upcoming Industry Forum in July. This is a critical opportunity for Mexico’s leaders to have their voices heard and directly influence the development of international best practice, shaping the products and services that will support the country’s future ambitions.
