PULSE NEWS MEXICO

The minimum wage in Mexico — the lowest within the three-member United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) region — will increase by 20 percent in the coming year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced Thursday, Dec. 1.

The announcement constituted the fifth increase in Mexico’s minimum wage since López Obrador took office four years ago.

During the morning press conference at the National Palace on Thursday, the Mexican president said that the country’s labor sector, business sector and government had unanimously reached a consensus for the increase to the minimum wage, which will now become 6,223 pesos per month.

“As of Jan. 1 of next year, the general minimum wage will go from 172 pesos a day to 207, representing an increase of 1,052 pesos per month,” said Mexican Labor Secretary Luisa María Alcalde Luján stated.

“A 20 percent increase was also agreed upon for the Northern Border Free Zone, which will go from 260 to 312 pesos per day, an increase of 1,584 additional pesos per month.”

AMLO said that the increase in the minimum wage will benefit 6.4 million Mexican workers and will not affect the country’s already spiraling inflation numbers, although he did not elaborate on how his administration plans to ensure that promise.

With this new increase, Mexico will rank 50th worldwide (out of 135 countries) in terms of minimum wage. In 2020, Mexico was in 85th place.

“With the increase (to the minimum wage) next year, we will have recovered 90 percent of our purchasing power, compared to 2018,” Alcalde Luján said.