In the last quarter of 2018, when López Obrador became president, only 4.3 million people earned between two and three minimum wages, this figure increased to more than 5.8 million workers in the last quarter of 2022.
In percentage terms, this means that at the beginning of the six-year term, only 8 out of 100 workers earned between 2 and 3 minimum wages. But now this proportion has increased to 10 out of 100 workers.
6 Although in terms of distribution there does not seem to be much change, it is more evident when looking at the number of people. There are 26% more people earning 1 to 2 SMeq, 32% more earning 2 to 3 SMeq, 25% more earning 3 to 5 SMeq, and 16% more earning more than 5 SMeq. pic.twitter.com/6JzUOT2Md2
– Luis F. Munguía (@luisfmunguia)
August 18, 2022
Employees who earn more than 3 and up to 5 minimum wages currently represent 4% of the employed population and those who earn more than 5 minimum wages now represent 1.47%. These proportions were slightly lower at the beginning of the current administration.
However, the bulk of the employed population (66%) continues to earn up to two minimum wages, this proportion has hardly been reduced since López Obrador’s term began, when it was 67%.
Proportion of workers earning up to minimum wage falls
The percentage of workers who earned up to a minimum wage was reduced during the six-year term. In 2018, they represented 38% of employees and as of the second quarter of 2022 they represent only 33.4%, a reduction of almost 5 percentage points.
In absolute terms there was also a decrease, because while at the beginning of this government there were 20.39 million workers who earned up to a minimum wage, in the second quarter of 2022 only 19.2 million employees were counted in this situation.
In fact, the proportion of workers who earned up to a minimum wage had reached its lowest point in the first quarter of 2021, when they represented 32% of the employed population, with just over 16 million workers in that situation.
There is inequality between men and women
While the percentage of women earning the minimum wage remained almost unchanged between the last quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2022, that of men decreased more strongly. In addition, men who earn between 2 and 3 minimum wages increased more than 3% between both periods, while in the case of women the increase was only 1.9%.
