Mexico Raises Minimum Wage for 2015 by 4.2%, in Line with Inflation Anthony Harrup - WSJ.com
go to original December 20, 2014

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican minimum-wage commission on Friday determined to raise the country’s daily minimum wage by 4.2% - in line with current inflation - to about 70 pesos a day, less than $5 at current exchange rates.

The commission, formed by government, business and labor representatives, meets each year to determine the increase in the minimum wage, which is used as a benchmark for contract negotiations in the private and public sectors. It postponed considering proposals to raise the wage much higher than inflation to restore some of its lost purchasing power.

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera, of the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution, in August proposed raising the wage by around 23% to 83 pesos in 2015. To raise the wage much above inflation, which currently stands at 4.2% and is expected to slow to 3% next year, it would be necessary to change laws to unlink the wage from a number of payments, including fines and government fees that are set in multiples of the daily minimum.

A proposal to make those changes that President Enrique Peña Nieto sent to Congress earlier this month has passed the lower house and a Senate committee, but was still awaiting a vote in the full Senate when the Congress went into the year-end recess.

The proposal, which Mr. Peña Nieto said was to enable a “serious and broad” debate on ways to increase workers’ incomes, includes a constitutional amendment and so requires state legislatures to vote on it.

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