On December 18, 2013, the Council of Representatives of Mexico's National Minimum Wage Commission approved a general 3.9% increase in the minimum wage for geographic Zones "A" and "B."  The wage increase will be effective January 1, 2014.

For Zone A, the 3.9% wage increase will raise the minimum wage to $67.29 Mexican pesos (approximately $5.18 USD) per day.  The geographical areas covered under Zone A include Mexico City (Federal District) and its metropolitan area; the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur; the cities of Acapulco, Guerrero, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Jalisco and its suburbs, Monterrey, Nuevo León and its metropolitan area, Hermosillo, Sonora, Matamoros and Reynosa, Tamaulipas and Coatzacoalcos, and Veracruz.

For Zone B, the 3.9% wage increase will raise the minimum wage to $63.77 Mexican pesos (approximately $4.91 USD) per day.  The most important federal localities covered under Zone B are as follows: Aguascalientes, Campeche, Coahuila, Colima, Chiapas, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Yucatán and Zacatecas.  Zone B also covers specific municipalities within the states of Chihuahua, Guerrero, Jalisco, Estado de México, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Veracruz, not included within Zone A.

A complete list of the minimum wage levels for Mexico that will take effect on January 1, 2014, is published on the governmental agency's website "Comisión Nacional de los Salarios Mínimos" (http://www.conasami.gob.mx/t_sal_mini_prof.html). 

Employers are advised to review their payroll practices and implement any necessary changes to comply with this wage adjustment.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.