The so -called “labor spring” – a set of reforms that includes the reduction of the working day, decent vacations, extended licenses and other measures – becomes, paradoxically, the largest incentive for informality in Mexico, warned the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco Servytur)
“What is called the ‘labor spring’, in ideological terms is a correct path, but in terms of operation, of result, impact, leads to the limit to organizations that are particularly familiar,” Efe Octavio de la Torre, president of the Concanaco Servytur, warned Efe.
On the reduction of the working day from 48 to 40 hours, De la Torre said that Mexico is not prepared for the most recent legislation in the public debate.
Confederation data suggest that this measure, which is sought to implement progressively around 2030, could represent an economic impact of up to 65,793 pesos ($ 3,289) per worker per year for a Mexican microenterprise, which could mean “the difference between surviving or closing”.
“The informal has no impact, it has different conditions … already informality is a symptom,” he said.
For the leader of the tertiary sector – which represents more than 5.2 million economic units and means 66% of GDP and 70% of formal employment – what these reforms do is punish those who decide to stay within the legal framework.
Concanaco’s most recent study, between 1,200 companies throughout the country, reveals that 67.2% do not agree with the reduction without decreasing salary.
Also, 58.85% foresee difficulties in covering shifts or maintaining the same service level, 71% believe that costs will increase and 64% say “I can’t”.
From the perspective of the Concanaco leader, the problem is not the fund of the reforms, but its indiscriminate application and that the rules are being written by the State without consulting those who maintain the economy of the country every day: micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Mexican businessman’s forgotten face
De la Torre insisted that, although these initiatives have a good ideological intention, they leave aside the real businessman.
That, he said, is the businessman who represents the real Mexico that opens the curtain every morning and holds – sometimes without knowing – the economy and consumption.
“It is there, in the communities, it opens every day, attends every day, endures corruption, insecurity, the informal that is put on the sidewalk, which it sells piracy, generates smuggling, is the one that does not report, because also if you denounce, they kill it,” he lamented.
The problem, he says, is structural. The tax burden and over -regulation suffocate the small and medium businessman.
“Being formal is expensive. And staying in formality is more expensive,” he said.
And in the face of that, the informal grows without consequences, without employer quotas, without statements, pushing those who want to do things well to cross the line towards informality.
“What will happen? I advance that this will grow informality,” he warned.
Deduction, incentives, dialogue and graduality
Given this scenario, Concanaco Servytur has put concrete proposals on the table, including the total payroll deduction, as well as tax and technological incentives to formalize more businesses.
He also proposed the creation of a National Observatory to follow the real implementation of labor reforms and that the gradual application is also differentiated by size, rotation and region.
The organization insists that a crusade is needed for competitiveness, a space where government, companies and workers feel to negotiate real conditions for a country where more than 55% of employment is informal.
With EFE information.
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