The organization Citizen Action Against Poverty urged this Wednesday to increase the general minimum wage (SMG) by 16% in 2026, warning that 20 million people with salaried employment, including 6.4 million with formal work, continue to receive poverty wages in Mexico.
In a statement, the group proposed a differentiated increase between the general minimum wage and that of the northern border (SMF) as a viable measure to eliminate wage poverty next year without affecting employment, and to advance towards the Government’s goal of the minimum wage reaching 2.5 basic baskets (CB) in 2030, as established by President Claudia Sheinbaum’s National Development Plan 2025-2030.
According to the proposal, the SMG, which today is 288 pesos per day (8,364 pesos per month) and applies in 2,400 municipalities, should be raised 16% (44 pesos more per day) until reaching 323 pesos per day (9,700 pesos per month), a level that would allow covering two basic baskets, whose estimated average cost for 2026 is 4,850 pesos per month each.
“Our proposal allows us to end poverty wages next year: an SMG of 323 pesos a day, 9,700 a month, enough for 2 CBs,” said the organization, which for a decade has promoted the recovery of the purchasing power of the minimum wage in the country.
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NGO urges exemption of withholdings from salaries
In contrast, the border minimum wage, which applies in 46 municipalities, has already exceeded the threshold equivalent to 2 basic baskets since 2022. It is currently 420 pesos per day (12,596 monthly), 51% higher than the SMG, and exceeds by 1,100 pesos the level necessary for 2.5 basic baskets, a goal set for 2030.
For this reason, the organization proposes that in 2026 the SMF only have an adjustment for inflation, estimated at 4%.
“The only way to recover the value of the SMG without negative effects is a differentiated increase,” stressed the group, which warned that the overvaluation of the SMF puts employment and investment on the border at risk, so “the SMG needs to continue increasing, but not the SMF.”
The organization recalled that the differentiated increases were already successfully applied in 2019 and 2020, when first the border was prioritized and later the rest of the country without adverse effects on employment.
In addition to the salary increase, the group asked the Tax Administration Service (SAT) and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) to update the Income Tax (ISR) withholding tables and quotas for the lowest incomes, since “the minimum wage is not subject to withholdings, but whoever earns one peso more can receive 321 pesos (17.53 dollars) less in deductions.”
He proposed exempting salaries of up to 13,400 pesos per month from withholdings, the reference amount for the living wage.
The measure, he assured, is “an act of justice” that would strengthen the reduction of poverty, today conditioned by the lack of income and limited access to social security in Mexico.
With information from EFE
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