The economic debate leaves behind the false idea of repercussions on inflation due to the increase in the minimum wage.
With the 13 percent increase announced by President Claudia Sheinbaum for January 2026, it is confirmed that salary policy is not an ideological battlefield but rather a mechanism of macroeconomic order, the logical step for a country that took 40 years to correct a basic injustice and understands investment and salaries as complementary gears within the same productive machinery.
The minimum wage now reaches an amount equivalent to 45 percent of the average income of those who contribute to the IMSS, the highest level in 36 years. After 20 years of systematic depreciation (1976-1995) and another 20 of stagnation (1996-2016), it finally covers two basic baskets.
And it did so without provoking the inflationary crisis that was so argued. There was no price spiral because, as the OECD has demonstrated since 2019: “there is no robust evidence that increases in the minimum wage generate inflation if they occur in economies with disciplined monetary management.”
That is why it is not contradictory that, in parallel with the announcement of the salary increase, the President met with the main business leaders of the country grouped in the Mexican Business Council. They did so in the face of a portfolio of 38 investment projects worth more than 40 billion dollars by 2026. Antonio del Valle’s expression—Mexico has “immense,” “brutal” potential—summarizes the business sensation of a country that, between nearshoring, macroeconomic stability and demographic bonus, has become one of the most strategic destinations for productive expansion.
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The presence at the meeting of Francisco Cervantes, president of the Business Coordinating Council – who maintains a security agenda close to the C5 -, Carlos Slim Domit, Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Germán Larrea and Claudio X. González, among others, sends a strong message regarding the construction of an economic pact where decent wages do not scare away capital.
At the local level, Mexico City offers an example of how social policies can coexist with fiscal measures that underpin formality and depressurize the everyday economy. The regularization plan presented by the Head of Government, Clara Brugada, makes it easier for households and microbusinesses to clean up their fiscal situation, reintegrate without impossible burdens and operate within the law.
An economy that does not condemn those who sustain its daily activity to poverty can aspire to more complex value chains, specialization and innovation. The salary increase fits with the trust cycle.
About the author:
Salvador Guerrero Chiprés is General Coordinator of the Command, Control, Computing, Communications and Citizen Contact Center (C5) of Mexico City.
www.c5.cdmx.gob.mx
Twitter: @C5_CDMX
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.
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