Mexico to reduce workweek hours
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — A bill was recently approved by Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies to reduce the workweek from 48 to 40 hours, with at least two days off for every five days worked.
The Citizens’ Movement party put forward the bill after the country was named as having the highest number of hours worked in 2021 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, while the World Health Organisation rated Mexico as the country with the highest work-related stress levels.
If passed, workers would receive overtime pay for any hours beyond the proscribed 40.
Mexico would join Chile, Ecuador, and some Caribbean nations as Latin American countries with a 40-hour workweek.
As a constitutional amendment, a three-fifths majority of each congressional chamber must approve the new workweek bill.
Mexico is currently one of only seven Latin American countries with a 48-hour workweek, the others being Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Paraguay.
El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Belize have workweeks of less than 48 hours but more than 40.
