Politicians Consider Raising Mexico's 5-Dollar-a-Day Minimum Wage Jessica Michele Herring - Latin Post
go to original August 15, 2014

The Mexico City government suggested that it would aim to increase the country's very low minimum wage.

Many have expressed outrage at the country's very low wage of 67.29 pesos a day, or $5. Yet, suggestions about raising the minimum wage have angered businesspeople, who argue that raising the minimum wage will cause inflation, according to The Associated Press.

While Mexico's Constitution says the minimum wage should provide for the basic needs of a worker and their family, the minimum wage buys only a single meal at a fast food chain.

The minimum wage in Mexico is one of the lowest in Latin America, and can only be compared to Honduras, which is the poorest country in Central America. Yet, there are lower food prices in Honduras, which allows wages to stretch further.

According to experts, about 6.5 million Mexican workers earn the minimum wage, which is 13 percent of the workforce.

..."We have fallen 35 years behind in terms of wages," Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said earlier this week. "We can only buy 23 percent of what one could buy in the 1970s."

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