Mexico’s Labor Ministry Highlights Minimum-Wage Gains, Says Purchasing Power Has Recovered 154%

Mexico’s Labor Ministry is highlighting what it describes as a major recovery in the purchasing power of the minimum wage, saying the improvement directly benefited 8.5 million workers enrolled with the Mexican Social Security Institute.

The ministry said the general daily minimum wage reached 315.04 pesos in 2026. In the Northern Border Free Zone, the daily rate reached 440.87 pesos. By June, it said, the general minimum wage could purchase 1.93 times the value of the urban food and non-food basic basket. In the border zone, it could purchase 2.7 times that value.

The ministry said the general minimum wage had accumulated a 154% recovery in purchasing power since 2018. It described the increase as part of the wage policy pursued by the governments of the Fourth Transformation, which made restoring minimum-wage purchasing power a priority for improving working families’ living conditions and reducing inequality.

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The recovery of the minimum wage is also reflected in what working people can buy with their income.

In 2026, the general minimum wage rose 13%, while the Northern Border Free Zone rate increased 5%. The ministry said both increases exceeded the previous year’s inflation rate. It also reported that the real average wage of workers affiliated with the social security system rose 34% in 2026, citing figures from the government’s Second Report.

The ministry, led by Marath Bolaños, said the wage gains resulted from dialogue and consensus among workers, employers and the government through the National Minimum Wages Commission and the ministry itself. It contrasted the current period with 1992-2018, when it said the minimum wage remained below the income poverty line.

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This progress forms part of the transformation of wage policy promoted by the governments of the Fourth Transformation.