Thread: Minimum wage to rise in Mexico

Minimum wage to rise in Mexico

by Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 12/24/2011 08:00:00 PM MST


On Jan. 1, Mexico will have a new daily minimum wage in the country's three zones - a 4.1 percent increase over the previous year.

The daily wage in Chihuahua state will be about $4.32 (59.82 pesos).
Mexico is divided into three regions for purposes of the minimum wage, and the highest is paid in the northern border states.

The new daily wages in the other regions are $4.20 per day in the central area and $4.10 per day in the southern part of Mexico.

Antonio Galindo, 43, a tortilla shop owner in Juárez for 20 years, said the wage increase will be passed on to customers, who now pay about 13 pesos (about a dollar) for a kilo of tortillas. "About five years ago, a kilo of tortillas went for about 6 pesos," Galindo said.

"The minimum wage is still set too low, and any of the gains will be erased by new state and city taxes. It would help businesses and workers if the government stopped hitting us with more taxes and increases in utility costs."

Many workers, such as those in maquiladoras, receive more than minimum pay, about $6 or $7 per day. But goods are more expensive at the U.S.-Mexico border, a region with an economy that is pegged to the dollar.

For example, a McDonald's Big Mac meal in Juárez costs about the same as in El Paso, where the U.S. federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Mexican labor officials provided typical daily wages for people in various occupations.

Pay in Chihuahua
In Chihuahua state, a hairstylist can expect to make about $5.64 per day; a plumber, $5.80; a hotel-motel housekeeper, $5.25; a guard, $5.36; an electrician, $5.91; and a bartender, $5.49.

To make it easier for his country's citizens to find jobs, Mexican President Felipe Calderón earlier this month unveiled a new nationwide job search website at www.empleo.gob.mx.

"We all know that one of the reasons that a Mexican citizen, who possesses the right skills, and with all the desire to work, is not able to find a job, may well be the lack of information about job openings," Calderón said in his announcement.

"And too often many companies go a long time without hiring the people they need, up to months at a time, because of a lack of information about the opportunities they offer," Calderón said.

Job vacancies
The job vacancies posted last week on the online portal included openings for a floor salesperson, a finance executive and a quality-control inspector.

Mexican officials said 5.6 million people have registered on the website.

Calderón said his administration also conducted 1,700 jobs fairs throughout Mexico over the past five years to make it easier to match job seekers with available jobs.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

Job search
People seeking jobs in Mexico can search at www.empleo.gob.mx

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_19615495

Now what you don't like the minimum in Mexcio . so you come over to our country & think it better I don't think so .
No amnesty or Dream at

No matter what they pay them there, they will never get all the benefits and freebies that they get here. So very many illegals have moved on from below minimum, to minimim, to beyond minimum already right here.