Mexico City - Mexico's wage commission said on Monday it planned to hike the country's minimum wage by 16 percent to around $5 a day and new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged further rises to keep up with inflation.
The $0.71-a-day raise, the biggest in percentage terms since 1996, followed two hikes of around 10% by the previous government also aimed at boosting the purchasing power of low-income workers.
Persistently low salaries for many Mexicans stoked the frustration that led to the landslide election of leftist Lopez Obrador, who has pledged to raise living standards to reduce crime and discourage migration to the United States.
"During many years the minimum wage has lost its purchasing power. Some say it has lost 70 percent of its purchasing power over the last 30 years," said Lopez Obrador, who took office on December 1.
"We're never going to have wage (increases) below inflation," he pledged at an event with the wage commission, made up of government, business and labor representatives. Mexico's annual inflation rate is running around 4.7 percent, above the central bank's 3 percent target.
The wage commission said the daily minimum wage would rise to 102.68 pesos from 88.36 pesos on January 1, 2019.
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