As is customary, during the last weeks of the year, the minimum wages effective for the following calendar year are published, but there are some points to keep in mind:
- They can be increased at any time of the year. Traditionally we know that they are increased from the first day of the year, but there is no legal basis for it to be on that date, in fact, there have been years in which they have been increased in December, October, April, among other months.
- There are two "Mexicos" for minimum wage purposes. During the last century and the first decade of this one, we had three geographic areas with different minimum wages until we realized that there was no real justification for having 3 different minimum wage zones and in 2012 we began to unify the entire country so that the minimum wage amount would be the same throughout Mexico. Unification was achieved until October 2015, but the "fourth transformation" came and split Mexico again into 2 zones for minimum wage purposes: the "Free Mexico of the northern border" and the "Poor Mexico" (because here the wage is much lower than in the other).
- By law, the minimum wage must be increased by at least the same percentage of inflation observed during the period of validity.
And under this point we ask ourselves: What happens with the other salaries? Is there also an obligation to increase them in the same proportion as the inflation increase?
The answer to this last question is NO.
There is no legal obligation to increase wages above the minimum wage; therefore, it is left to market forces, productivity in the companies and the consideration of the employers whether or not to increase wages above the minimum wage.
Therefore, we are only a few days (or hours) away from the announcement of minimum wage increases, but for wages above the minimum wage.
Increases are likely to be smaller than those applied to minimum wages.
Stay tuned for payroll updates!
I invite you to stay tuned to our blog to keep up to date with the world of payroll.
See you next time
