Alma E. Muñoz and Alonso Urrutia
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, December 4, 2025, p. 3
President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced a 13 percent increase in the general minimum wage as of January 1, 2026, going from 278.80 to 315.40 pesos per day, which represents 9,582.47 per month and a recovery of 154.2 of its purchasing power during the governments of the Fourth Transformation.
In the Northern Border Free Zone the increase will be 5 percent. From 419.88 pesos a day it rises to 440.87; that is, 13,409.80 per month, which fulfills the presidential commitment to cover two basic baskets.
In real terms, “this is the highest level recorded for this remuneration since 1980, going back to the process of precariousness registered during the neoliberal period,” said Marath Bolaños López, head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS).
In the case of the northern border, it remains above the historical maximum reached in 1976.
An hour and a half after the government and labor and business sectors reached the agreement – around 6 in the morning at the National Minimum Wage Commission (Conasami) – the President highlighted that “it is very good news for all Mexicans.”
He ruled out that this increase has any impact on inflation or product prices, in addition to the fact that, “contrary to what was said, there is more foreign investment.”
He pointed out that they are not “occurrences from one day to the next, but rather decisions studied, worked on and agreed upon.”
He stressed that 13.5 million Mexicans escaped poverty due to the increase in wages, the decrease in prices of the basic basket with the Package Against Inflation and High Costs, the agreement to have a maximum cost of gasoline and the improvement in the quality of life of workers.
The head of the STPS indicated that with the increase it will be enough to buy 7.1 kilos of beans, 6.5 of eggs and 14.8 of tortilla. According to the agency, 8.5 million workers will benefit.
He mentioned that as of 2018, in the Northern Border Free Zone, those who earned the least had increases of 204 percent in their salaries, and 115 percent in the rest of the country.
Respect for the pillars of the economy: CCE
Francisco Cervantes Díaz, president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), highlighted the openness of the government, workers and companies in negotiations to improve the conditions of different population groups, especially the most vulnerable.
This type of dialogue, he added, occurs within the current legal framework, “within the channels of the rule of law and respect for the pillars for the Mexican economy,” among which he cited formal employment, workers’ rights, productive stability, legal security, efficiency and development of companies and sources of employment, among others.
The announcement was attended by Altagracia Gómez, coordinator of the Regional Economic Development and Relocation Advisory Council; Reyes Soberanis, president of the Labor Congress; Juan José Sierra Álvarez, leader of the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic; Alejandro Malagón Barragán, leader of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers, and Luis Munguía Corella, president of Conasami.
