When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to power, about 12% of workers earned more than two minimum wages . But, until the second quarter of 2022, this proportion grew to 16%, according to the new series of equivalent minimum wages published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
In 2019, the National Minimum Wage Commission decided to raise the minimum wage from 88 pesos a day to 102 pesos a day in practically the entire national territory. An increase of 15%, in a single year. The goal is for the minimum wage to reach 260 pesos at the end of the six-year term, in 2024. However, inflation could undermine the latest increases. The Inegi presented a series with which it is possible to compare over time how workers are distributed according to their income range.
The minimum wage in the six-year term of AMLO
From the beginning of López Obrador’s six-year term to the second quarter of 2022, the percentage of the employed population that earns up to a minimum wage (172.87 pesos) was reduced by 4.47 percentage points. And now there are more and more people who receive between 2 and 3 minimum wages.
In the last quarter of 2018, when López Obrador became president, only 4.3 million people earned between two and three minimum wages, this figure increased to more than 5.8 million workers in the last quarter of 2022.
In percentage terms, this means that at the beginning of the six-year term, only 8 out of 100 workers earned between 2 and 3 minimum wages. But now this proportion has increased to 10 out of every 100 workers.
Employees who earn more than 3 and up to 5 minimum wages currently represent 4% of the employed population and those who earn more than 5 minimum wages now represent 1.47%. These proportions were slightly lower at the beginning of the current administration.
However, the bulk of the employed population (66%) continues to earn up to two minimum wages, this proportion has hardly been reduced since López Obrador’s term began, when it was 67%.
Proportion of workers earning up to minimum wage falls
The percentage of workers who earned up to a minimum wage was reduced during the six-year term. In 2018, they represented 38% of employees and as of the second quarter of 2022 they represent only 33.4%, a reduction of almost 5 percentage points.
In absolute terms there was also a decrease, because while at the beginning of this government there were 20.39 million workers who earned up to a minimum wage, in the second quarter of 2022 only 19.2 million employees were counted in this situation.
In fact, the proportion of workers who earned up to a minimum wage had reached its lowest point in the first quarter of 2021, when they represented 32% of the employed population, with just over 16 million workers in that situation.
There is inequality between men and women
While the percentage of women earning the minimum wage remained almost unchanged between the last quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2022, that of men decreased more strongly. In addition, men who earn between 2 and 3 minimum wages increased more than 3% between both periods, while in the case of women the increase was only 1.9%.
