The SMG in 2025 still lacks 1,000 pesos to cover the cost of 2 CB. It then requires an increase of around 16% in 2026. On the other hand, the SMF has already reached that level since 2022. At most, its adjustment from now on should only maintain value.
Sufficient SMG is urgent, since still 20 million, half of the salaried workers and among them 6.4 million, one in three, with formal jobs registered in the IMSS, earn poverty wages: it is not enough for them to cover the cost of two basic baskets. Working and being poor is a serious contradiction, it is a scandal.
The 2 CB “threshold” to end poverty wages is the “floor,” not the ideal. It is the minimum, since the “basic basket” is the amount of the poverty line. Those who earn less than the cost of CB fall into “poverty.” The estimate is that in 2026 its average cost will be 4,850 pesos.
Therefore, for 2 CB an SMG of 9,700 pesos per month is required, in 2026. The calculations can be adjusted, not the criterion. It is not about figures or percentages, but about reaching – for the first time – an amount that does not contradict the constitutional mandate. The art. 123 establishes that the SM must be sufficient to support those who work and their family, so the minimum is that it is enough for 2 people. Furthermore, it is the most common family composition: 4 people with 2 people who work and because statistically, on average, for each person receiving income there is one more “dependent” person.
But many people are still opposed and concerned. There are myths and mental inertia, because although we have been recovering from MS for 9 years without negative effects, there are those who continue to talk about its “inflationary effect.”
The increase in the SMG cannot have an inflationary effect, because it was “deindexed” from other costs since 2016. Also because its adjustment from 2017 to date applies a formula with two components: the independent recovery amount -MIR, which is approved in “pesos”, only for the SM and the “percentage by fixation” that serves as a reference for the rest of the salaries.
The weight of salaries in costs is minimal. Remunerations represent only 10.8% of companies’ total expenses and 7.7% of total income. Remunerations for operational staff – where low salaries are concentrated – are 2/3 of that cost (Economic Census 2023). Thus the effect of the salary increase is marginal since the largest increases apply only to the lowest salaries.
To avoid negative effects, the adjustment to the SM must be differentiated between SMG and SMF. The SMG must reach 2 CB in 2026 and must gradually increase to reach the goal set by President Sheinbaum to be sufficient for 2.5 CB in 2030, but the SMF has already exceeded that level.
The differentiated increase was already applied in 2019 and 2020. It has been the responsible and reasonable way for the recovery of the SM. In 2019, the differentiated adjustment was in favor of the SMF, that year it rose 100%, while the SMG rose 16%. The following year, the differentiated increase was in favor of the SMG, that year it rose 20% and the SMF only 5%, just enough to not lose value.
Differentiated increase is essential. The SMF is overvalued and is generating its negative effects such as discouraging investment and slowing job creation.
