Mexico increases minimum wage by 20%

By Sierra Juarez

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AA) – The Mexican government announced it will increase the minimum wage to about $6.50 a day in the upcoming year – a 20% hike.

Mexican Secretary of Labor Luisa Maria Alcalde Lujan said raising the minimum wage is not just about economics.

“When we talk about work, we talk about people – of women and men with families who dedicate the majority of their day to work to bring an income back home,” Alcalde Lujan said in a press conference on Monday.

For the last year under its new leftist president, the Mexican government has focused on labor rights. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador campaigned on the promise to increase workers’ rights – from labor standards to the minimum wage.

He said increasing the minimum wage is the step in the right direction for stability in Mexico.

“[The country] is going to see peace. It’s going to see security. We’re going to solve the grave problem of insecurity and violence,” Lopez Obrador said. “We are going to have a better society for our benefit and those of future generations.”

But the increase has caused some concern among experts who worry about inflation. The government increased the minimum wage over the last year by about 16%, and that previous wage jump has already increased the core inflation in the country.