Lately, it seems like we don't know the exact dates or the authorization or disclosure bodies, but yesterday our president announced that the minimum wage in Mexico for 2025 will increase by 12%. This number is not new to us; it had already been discussed in chambers and among business people, but now it has been made official by our president and the article is already on the CONASAMI (National Minimum Wage Commission) website. As of today, it has not yet appeared in the DOF (Official Journal of the Federation), but we are confident that it will be.
In capitalist places, a person's salary or remuneration is usually governed by the law of supply and demand, and the minimum wage serves to protect employees so they can have access to a minimum remuneration sufficient to survive. Each country or region sets its own rules, and these are used to define a minimum wage. For a long time, and especially in recent years, minimum wage levels have been used as a political force or campaign tool.
In Mexico, very few people actually earn the minimum wage, which aligns with the law of supply and demand. Now the minimum wage is no longer used as a benchmark for calculating other things, such as fines, caps on various measures, reflections of inflation, etc. For that, we now have the UMA (Unit of Measurement and Updating).
So, is this increase in the minimum wage good or bad? Neither here nor there. Very few workers will benefit from it, and with the UMA, no other measure or exchange rate will be affected.
The minimum wage has been getting closer to the wage dictated by supply and demand in the most industrialized regions of Mexico, and in my opinion, this reduces our flexibility as a producing country but also protects our working class.
Manuel Gonzalez
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