US EditionMexican Government Seeks to Gradually Reduce Workweek to 40 Hours
The phased reduction aims to preserve wages and benefits while addressing Mexico's long working hours, with a two-hour cut per year starting in 2027, says Labor Secretary Bolaños.
- Dec. 3, Mexico's federal government introduced a proposal to reduce the statutory workweek from 48 to 40 hours without cutting wages or benefits, and the constitutional reform will be sent to the Senate and require Congress and state legislatures' approval.
- Lawmakers from the Morena party and several unions first pushed a 40-hour workweek in 2022, and on April 25, 2023, the Constitutional Points Committee in the Chamber of Deputies approved a draft that stalled by late 2023.
- Implementing the change gradually, the proposal calls for two-hour reductions each year until reaching a 40-hour workweek, Labor Secretary Marath Bolaños presented.
- Unions and workers' organizations welcomed the plan as social justice, while some Mexican business groups warned of costs and staff cuts; the private sector backed a phased reform and President Claudia Sheinbaum said the framework was unanimously agreed.
- The OECD reports Mexico among countries with the longest working hours, a factor officials cite for the reform’s focus on employee well-being, while past lack of business consensus and the election cycle kept the Senate from taking up the initiative.
32 Articles
32 Articles
Labor ministry unveils business-backed plan to reduce workweek to 40 hours
Mexico’s standard workweek will be reduced by two hours annually in the coming years to reach 40 hours in 2030, according to a proposal presented by the federal government on Wednesday. Mexico currently has a standard 48-hour, six-day workweek. The establishment of a 40-hour workweek over five days — a demand of workers across the country — requires a reform to the Mexican Constitution. If approved by Congress, Mexico’s standard workweek will be…
It has been more than a century that the working day in Mexico has remained immovable, until now. The Secretariat of Labor has announced this Wednesday that it will send to the Legislative Power the proposal to reduce the working day from 48 to 40 hours per week in the country from 2027. The Secretary of Labor, Marath Bolaños, explained that the initiative proposes a reduction of two hours per year in this day from 2027, until reaching 40 hours …
The federal government and the leaders of the private initiative achieved a principle of agreement to translate into the Constitution the 40-hour work week and today could be announced, according to sources with knowledge of the subject. Leaders of various business chambers and government representatives, led by the Secretary of Labor, Marath Bolaños, advanced in the consensus for reform by which the work week would be reduced from 48 to 40 hour…
INDEX warns that the change to 40 hours a week must be accompanied by clear rules not to stop investments and employment in the region. TIJUANA, Baja California, December 4, 2025.- The maquiladora sector of the northern border is preparing for the reduction of the working day to 40 hours a week, explained Federico Serrano, president of Index Zona Costa, warning that this adjustment will fully enter into force from January 2027 and will represent…
Senator Óscar Canton Zetina, indicated that there is no fixed deadline to rule, but it is proposed that it will enter into force in 2027 Rafael Ramírez OEM-Reportex Senator Óscar Canton Zetina, president of the Commission of Constitutional Points, confirmed that the reform to reduce the working day to 40 hours per week will not be approved this year, but that it will be legislated from February 2026, with a broad consultation and analysis proce…
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