They ask for more productivity on Labor Day in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (EFE).— Mexico commemorated Labor Day yesterday with historic achievements in labor matters, but still needs to increase its productivity and consensus to achieve the gradual application of pending reforms, in order not to impact small and medium-sized businesses. (SMEs), stated entrepreneurs and talent managers.

The president of the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex), José Medina Mora, pointed out in an interview that there is a willingness on the part of employers to generate a broad social dialogue for the benefit of workers.

However, he considered that it is necessary to apply gradualness in the upcoming reforms so as not to push the closure of SMEs or for them to enter informality, which account for 99% of all businesses in the country; At the same time, he urged the creation of public policies that encourage increased productivity.

Data from Coparmex indicate that, in Mexico, there are still between 1.2 and 1.6 million vacancies that cannot be filled due to the lack of qualified labor.

Interviewed separately, the president of the Mexican Association of Human Capital (Amech), Fernando Bermúdez, explained that, although the purpose of the reforms positively impacts Mexican workers, these changes will have economic impacts that must be absorbed by the Government, companies or the workers themselves.

“We also always have to think about the (economic-financial) viability of everything we do. It is of no use to us if we have workers with the best working conditions in the world, if then economically we are not productive companies and, therefore, a productive country,” he commented.

The president of Coparmex, who represents at least 36,000 companies responsible for 30% of the Mexican GDP, recalled that since 2016 he began the most recent fight to benefit the rights of national workers.

He explained that eight years ago it was possible to decouple the minimum wage from mortgage loans, services, fines and others that caused increases to the minimum legal payment to impact general inflation.

“Once we managed, since 2016, to deindex the minimum wage, we have been able to propose gradual increases to the National Minimum Wage Commission,” he said.

The minimum wage has presented its greatest advances since 2019, the first full year of the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with double-digit increases. Thus, in 2019, it increased 16%; in 2020, 20%; in 2021, to 15%; in 2022, 22%; and in 2023 and 2024, at 20%, respectively, taking it to 207.44 pesos per day, that is, 6,223.2 pesos per month.

Pending legislation

So far, in the last five years, Congress has approved laws to double vacation days, eliminate labor subcontracting, disconnection, remote work, among others, such as the recently approved new pension model.

All of this, in a historic moment in which the best conditions for workers were once again put into public debate, said the president of Amech.

However, reforms have not yet materialized to reduce the working day to 40 hours a week, increase the bonus from 15 to 30 days, increase paternity leave, among other proposals from López Obrador, such as increases to the minimum wage above inflation every year and in terms of housing.

Bermúdez also said that there are areas of opportunity to make the hiring model more flexible and be much more agile and dynamic, since companies still have problems finding the personnel they require in the time and conditions they need.

In addition, the Amech director asked to consider the new labor schemes in the world and make them attractive in Mexico for potential new companies that will be setting up in the country due to the phenomenon of manufacturing relocation or “nearshoring.”

“We have an immediate future, which is already a present, opportunities such as ‘nearshoring’ and for all companies that want to come to Mexico we have to give them options and hiring possibilities,” he said.

He also emphasized that a pending issue in the Mexican economy is informality, which currently affects almost half of the active population.

OECDMore hours worked in Mexico

27% of employees in Mexico work more hours, according to OECD data

Highest percentage

Mexico is the country that has the highest percentage of people who work for pay for long hours, with 27%, followed by Turkey, a country that represents 25% and Colombia, with 24% of its employees, according to the recent data from the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD).

very long hours

An employee spends around 63% of the day at work, that is, 15 hours on personal care and leisure. However, in Mexico, 27% of employees have a paid job with very long hours, the highest rate in the OECD, where the average is 10%.

Leisure

“The quantity and quality of free time is essential for people’s general well-being and can generate additional benefits for physical and mental health,” the agency says.