68.9% of the employed population earns up to two minimums: Inegi

The percentage of employed workers in Mexico who earned between one and two minimum wages increased rapidly during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador; Meanwhile, the number of those who received more than three and up to five minimum wages was reduced to a quarter of those during Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term, revealed data from the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE) of the National Institute. of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Likewise, more than half of the Mexican labor market works informally. According to the ENOE, Mexico had an employed population of 59.42 million workers at the end of September 2024. Of this universe, 68.96 percent (40.98 million) received between one and two minimum wages.

The ENOE estimated that in December 2018, when López Obrador’s six-year term began, formal and informal workers who earned between one and up to two minimum wages constituted 43.33 percent of the employed population (23.18 million).

Meanwhile, employees who received three to five minimum wages were 9.5 million in November 2018, a figure that plummeted to 2.3 million in September 2024. At the end of September of this year, 54.24 percent of the employed population in Mexico works in informal conditions, a quarter of that in the previous six-year term.

Middle classes decline

Studies from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte affirm that although the minimum wage has increased gradually since 2016, the percentage of the population that earns up to two minimum wages has skyrocketed and the percentage of those who earn more than five minimum wages is decreasing.

Upon the arrival of López Obrador to the Presidency, the minimum wage in Mexico was 88.40 pesos; By 2024, the last year of the six-year term, it had increased to 248.93 pesos per day.

During the last six-year term, the informality rate was reduced to 54.24 percent. Peña Nieto’s ended at 57.06 percent and Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s at 59.46 percent. That is, more than half of Mexican workers do not have social security or basic labor rights.