Mexico to hike minimum wage by 20% in 2023

Mexico's government said on Thursday a deal has been reached between employers, labor representatives and officials to raise the country's minimum wage by 20% in 2023. The standard minimum wage will rise from its current rate of 172.87 pesos ($9.03) a day to around 207 pesos ($10.82) a day, Labor Minister Luisa Maria Alcalde said during a regular news conference alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Mexico's government said on Thursday a deal has been reached between employers, labor representatives and officials to raise the country's minimum wage by 20% in 2023.

The standard minimum wage will rise from its current rate of 172.87 pesos ($9.03) a day to around 207 pesos ($10.82) a day, Labor Minister Luisa Maria Alcalde said during a regular news conference alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The hike follows double-digit-percent raises by Lopez Obrador's administration every year since he took office at the end of 2018, seeking to curb Mexico's vast income disparity.

The latest minimum wage increase was calculated taking inflation into account, particularly price increases for basic goods, Lopez Obrador told reporters. "We don't see any risk of inflation shooting up," he said.

Some 6.4 million workers will benefit from the increase, labor minister Alcalde said. Workers along the U.S.-Mexico border will see wages rise from around 260 pesos a day to 312 pesos, Alcalde said.

Salaries in Mexico remain far below U.S. levels, however, where the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 an hour. ($1 = 19.1400 Mexican pesos)