Proceso: Juan Carlos Cruz Vargas
The Business Coordinating Council (CCE) warned about the 'precarious' state of employment and wages in Mexico, as well as the deepening gap of inequality. A few hours before the commemoration of Labor Day, the body chaired by Gerardo Gutierrez Candiani issued a statement in which it noted that
"job insecurity remains a serious problem, especially when looking at the prevailing wage."As sample, it gave the following figures: In 2012 the number of workers who receive up to three minimum wages per month increased by nearly a million people, but that of those earning above three minimum wages fell by more than 400,000 .
MV Note: The Mexico minimum daily wage is about US$6.00 per day, so three minimum wages is about US$18 per day.
In other words, there are more workers who receive less income from their work.
However, business leaders associated the precariousness of wages with the low productivity of the workforce in Mexico. The CCE said that the level of wages in Mexico has stalled largely because productivity has not grown as a whole. In fact, it said that in the last half century the cumulative growth of China's productivity relative to the United States was more than 200%, compared to Mexico's decline of more than 30%.
However, business leaders associated the precariousness of wages with the low productivity of the workforce in Mexico. The CCE said that the level of wages in Mexico has stalled largely because productivity has not grown as a whole. In fact, it said that in the last half century the cumulative growth of China's productivity relative to the United States was more than 200%, compared to Mexico's decline of more than 30%.
"This [low productivity] largely explains why wages in [China] have already overtaken ours." the CCE justified.It added that the challenge
"is to bridge the gap of the duality that we have today, between a highly competitive sector, linked to the external market which accounts for two-thirds of national growth, and millions of businesses of low productivity and with few resources to develop themselves."The business class definitely put its hopes in the labor reform, passed late last year, which was rejected by the unions and questioned by many academics and specialists in the subject.
The CCE noted that
"we need to ensure the goal of one million more formal jobs per year and open the opportunities needed by young people in order to realize the potential of the labor reform."It also noted that
"this reform was a big step that will promote greater efficiency and depth to the labor market. Today, Mexico has a competitive legal framework and has removed many of the barriers that inhibited investment and creating more jobs."For Gutierrez Candiani, the reform can contribute about 300 thousand formal jobs in the next five years, in addition to the annual average growth, which means reaching the minimum number of jobs needed to equal the growth of the economically active population (EAP).
The organization also stressed the levels of informal employment, which absorbs 6 out of 10 Mexicans who work. It said that half of the businesses operating in Mexico are in the informal [cash] economy.
However, it said,
"there are more workers with access to health care, and although informality continues to grow, the rate of increase in formal employment last year was just over three times that of informal jobs."According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in the country about 29 million people work [in the informal economy], without fixed wages, social security and employment benefits, while just over 16 million are in the formal economy.
For the CCE, the labor market is a mixed picture,
"on the one hand, in the first quarter, the IMSS [Mexican Institute for Social Security, which manages health services and pensions for fomally employed workers] there were 126,000 fewer jobs than the same period last year, but on the other hand, the percentage of permanent workers registered with the Institute has continued on an upward trend."The CCE said that the truth is that the labor reform will not achieve the objectives of creating a greater number of places and better working conditions, and Mexico needs to rely on the growth of other sectors.
"To ensure achieving the projections, we must decide to activate the major growth drivers we have available: revive the domestic market, have an effective industrial policy, carry out reforms with broad potential--such as in the energy sector [state owned petroleum industry]--as well as financing [business loans] and taxation. It is also worthwhile to revive employment incentive programs, with the necessary improvements so that they function," it added.Spanish original