The Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) proposed paying a minimum wage of 12,500 pesos to workers so that they do not live or suffer hardship in their homes when purchasing the basic basket.
A national study was done in Mexico to find out how much it costs a family of 4 people to live with dignity: “We found that it was 25 thousand pesos, we divided it in two (because there were two people in the family) and we found that 12 thousand 500 pesos is what a family needs to live on the line,” reported Luis Enrique Terrazas, CEO of Vida Digna, a strategy promoted by the bosses.
With this salary, families will not go on vacation, they will not go to eat or go to a movie, but it will simply be enough for them to avoid hardship, said the businessman.
Since January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Mexico is 248.93 pesos per day, which is equivalent to 7,468 pesos per month and by 2026 it should be 9,200 pesos.
The father and mother work 48 hours a week, “but in transportation they spend 10 hours and return with an average payment of 8 thousand pesos per month. And between the two of them they make 16 thousand pesos, so we are clear that these people do not have enough to live with dignity,” he declared.
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Currently, the salary represents 75 percent of families’ income, despite the fact that many have a small remittance or support from the government, he recalled.
According to Luis Enrique Terrazas, half of the workers in Mexico earn 8 thousand pesos or less per month, so if you want a better country you need to pay a salary of 12 thousand 500 pesos per month.
“At Coparmex we have worked since 2016 to gradually increase the minimum wage so that it does not generate inflation but also informality,” commented José Medina Mora Icaza, president of the employers’ body.
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He added that from 2016 to 2024 the minimum wage was raised 130 percent, but “our goal is to bring that minimum wage in line with family well-being.”
“That is to say that a family of four people where two work, those two minimum wages are enough for the four members of that family to have access to the food and non-food basket,” he said.
“Now we want to propose a third level, which is the level of a decent life and the process we propose is for each company, for each organization, a real commitment that first looks at their workers and asks themselves how much the one who earns the least earns in his organization,” he added.
“Once with this clarity, those companies, those organizations that can pay at the second level (9,200 pesos), that is, the level of the family well-being line, or at the third level (or 12,500 pesos) of They pay for a dignified life,” he explained.
“Do not wait for the minimum wage to rise to that level one day, but those who can pay it at once will pay it,” he said.
The frame of reference that we have and that we all know is the Inclusive Development Model, which establishes that this economic development is necessary, but not sufficient, he noted.
“It has to go hand in hand with social development so that no one is left out and of course also with sustainable development,” he declared.
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“But something we have realized is that this poverty and inequality that exists in the country is reflected in companies and organizations and that is why the real commitment that we want to make and to which we want to invite all companies and organizations to all businesses to that commitment to achieve that level of dignified living because it is something that we have to do together since no one is better than all of us together,” he concluded.
