Minimum Wage Dialogue Begins

ByJared Laureles

This article by Jared Laureles originally appeared in the November 28, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

The Board of Representatives of the National Minimum Wage Commission (CONASAMI) convened yesterday in permanent session with a view to meeting at any time to reach an agreement on the increase to the general and professional minimum wages that will be in effect from January 1, 2026.

During the last ordinary session of the year, the Technical Directorate of the Conasami presented the Annual Report on the behavior of the economy, in which the variations in the cost of living, the conditions of the labor market and salary structures, as well as other variables of interest, reported the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

With all these elements, the labor, employer and government sectors will engage in dialogue to seek a unanimous agreement on a new minimum income amount.

The work will be led by Luis Felipe Munguía, President of CONASAMI, and will start with proposals to increase the sectors that comprise it.

President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has stated that the goal is to achieve by 2030 a minimum wage sufficient to purchase 2.5 basic food baskets.

Bosses Yet to Show Their Hand

The labor sector, led by José Luis Carazo, demanded a 30.6 percent increase for next year.

He argued that this proposal seeks to reduce the historical lag accumulated since 1976, when wages had their highest purchasing power. He reiterated that while there has been progress with recent wage increases, these have not been enough to restore the economic capacity that workers have lost over decades.

Separately, the organization Citizen Action Against Poverty proposed a differentiated increase of 16 percent to the general minimum wage and 4 percent to the border minimum wage.

“The differentiated adjustment is the only acceptable way for the private sector to continue the recovery of the minimum wage, since the overvaluation of the border minimum puts job creation and new investments at risk,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the employers’ representatives have kept their wage proposal confidential.

The minimum wage policy that has been applied since the previous administration has achieved a recovery of purchasing power of 129.4 percent since December 2018, going from 88.36 to 278.80 pesos per day in 2025.

The increase for this year was 12 percent and was also applied in the free zone of the northern border, where the salary is equivalent to 419.88 pesos; in this case the recovery has been 245.5 percent.

According to Conasami, the current minimum wage can buy 1.78 basic food baskets; however, it reiterated that the goal is to achieve coverage of 2.5 baskets by 2030, always seeking to build agreements and consensus with the sectors that make up the Council of Representatives.