In Mexico, at least 40 million people lack decent work, lack sufficient wages, and lack access to health and social security services, the organizations Citizen Action Against Poverty and Data Cívica reported this Friday.
At the presentation of the Decent Work Observatory (OTD), a website that displays indicators on evident, systematic, and structural violations of the right to decent work, it was also noted that 21.5 million more Mexicans “are excluded from their right to work” and that the situation “is more serious” now than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Almost 40 million people lack decent work in Mexico, and we are only counting those who do not have sufficient income and/or those without social security,” said Rogelio Gómez, president of Citizen Action Against Poverty.
She added that “poverty wages, so-called informal jobs, which are actually jobs without social security, without labor rights, workdays longer than 40 hours, and jobs without protection, without contracts, without union membership, are factories of poverty.”
She noted that many jobs lack protections such as the right to stable employment, collective bargaining, and union membership. Therefore, the Observatory seeks to emphasize “that this reality must change, as work is a human right, not a commodity.”
Women and youth are affected by job insecurity
Ana Paulina González, head of Research and Data at Citizen Action Against Poverty, emphasized that the purpose of this tool is to highlight the working conditions that produce poverty and inequality in Mexico.
“The Observatory’s indicators allow us to clearly see that the root of poverty is related to exclusion and job insecurity, which also affect women and youth more,” González indicated.
According to data from the National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE) of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in the first quarter of this year, 32.9 million people were working and earning poverty wages, “insufficient to purchase two basic food baskets per month,” representing 67% of the employed population.
While prior to the pandemic, 30.4 million people were in this situation, which was then 62% of the employed population.
In Mexico, the basic food basket for May 2025 has an average cost of 910 pesos and consists of 24 essential products for a family of four to meet their nutritional and hygiene needs. It also includes eggs, lemons, apples, pineapple, white bread, toilet paper, chicken, beef and pork, corn tortillas, rice, oil, onions, and beans.
Other Shortcomings
In addition to insufficient wages, the OTD reports that some 35.1 million working people face jobs without social security, i.e., 60% of the employed population, although before the pandemic the figure was 34.2 million.
Among those working without stable contracts are 18.6 million, compared to 18.9 million five years ago, while those without union affiliation are 33.1 million, compared to 30.9 million in 2020.
“These millions of workers lack collective organization or representation to negotiate their working conditions. Furthermore, 14.4 million work longer than 48 hours, and a 40-hour workweek is being discussed, as there are people who work more than 48 hours and still don’t earn enough,” concluded Rogelio Gómez.
Source: lopezdoriga
