# Average Daily Income in Mexico



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) has released average daily income statistics reportedly paid to employees in various parts of Mexico:










Click here to read the article in its entirety.

My assumption is that the average income numbers illustrated above represent wages which employers reported as paid to employees and do not include the vast number of persons working in the 'grey economy' in Mexico.


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## lhpdiver (Jul 30, 2014)

So as best I can tell our 'gardener' should be pretty happy with the 600 pesos we pay him for his one day visit every other week. We had to change his old ways. At least he his here almost 8 hours - and we throw in lunch with us. Next visit we will honor the 2500 pesos Christmas bonus of the previous owners. But that may change next year as well.

We had been paying him 2500/month in advance for a one day weekly visit. But you know - he just doesn't care. If there are 10 potted plants in a row he will weed 7 of the pots and leave the other 3 for next time. It seems every time he handles a tool - particularly electrical/gas it breaks. I mow my own lawn and clean my own pool. Last time I asked him to mow the lawn he declared the mower was broken. Then I added some gas.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lhpdiver said:


> So as best I can tell our 'gardener' should be pretty happy with the 600 pesos we pay him for his one day visit every other week. We had to change his old ways. At least he his here almost 8 hours - and we throw in lunch with us. Next visit we will honor the 2500 pesos Christmas bonus of the previous owners. But that may change next year as well.
> 
> We had been paying him 2500/month in advance for a one day weekly visit. But you know - he just doesn't care. If there are 10 potted plants in a row he will weed 7 of the pots and leave the other 3 for next time. It seems every time he handles a tool - particularly electrical/gas it breaks. I mow my own lawn and clean my own pool. Last time I asked him to mow the lawn he declared the mower was broken. Then I added some gas.


Maybe you need to look for a new gardener!


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Thats fascinating, Longford. Thanks much for posting it. I'm saving it for whatever. It does show a fairly steep increase since 2005. Do you or anyone else know of a similar chart for prices? The two combined would give us a great picture of the economy.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lhpdiver said:


> So as best I can tell our 'gardener' should be pretty happy with the 600 pesos we pay him for his one day visit every other week. We had to change his old ways. At least he his here almost 8 hours - and we throw in lunch with us. Next visit we will honor the 2500 pesos Christmas bonus of the previous owners. But that may change next year as well.
> 
> We had been paying him 2500/month in advance for a one day weekly visit. But you know - he just doesn't care. If there are 10 potted plants in a row he will weed 7 of the pots and leave the other 3 for next time. It seems every time he handles a tool - particularly electrical/gas it breaks. I mow my own lawn and clean my own pool. Last time I asked him to mow the lawn he declared the mower was broken. Then I added some gas.


My guess is that he is very happy with that daily rate. It sounds about double what people pay here and about double the national average. I am paying an albanile and general all around handy man $350/day for 8 hours days. His son sometimes helps out for $200/day. We are doing maintenance and repair on the house.


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## travelinhobo (Sep 17, 2010)

lhpdiver said:


> So as best I can tell our 'gardener' should be pretty happy with the 600 pesos we pay him for his one day visit every other week. We had to change his old ways. At least he his here almost 8 hours - and we throw in lunch with us. Next visit we will honor the 2500 pesos Christmas bonus of the previous owners. But that may change next year as well.
> 
> We had been paying him 2500/month in advance for a one day weekly visit. But you know - he just doesn't care. If there are 10 potted plants in a row he will weed 7 of the pots and leave the other 3 for next time. It seems every time he handles a tool - particularly electrical/gas it breaks. I mow my own lawn and clean my own pool. Last time I asked him to mow the lawn he declared the mower was broken. Then I added some gas.


I was going to say thank you for not exploiting your gardener, but if he isn't doing a decent job to even earn it, why keep him on? And $2500??????? That's nuts. Please give me your address and I'll come do the gardening.

As to the other poster who is barely paying anything to his fix it guy and son, I'll withhold my thoughts so I don't get kicked off of here.


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## travelinhobo (Sep 17, 2010)

I find it bizarre that I've been told numerous times over the years that minimum wages are based on location. And I've been told that DF, Cancun and Guadalajara (or was it Monterrey?) have the the highest minimum salaries in the country. Yet, Campache and other cities beat out QR. Things that make me go hmmm.

I also find it odd that the article only quotes in pesos once, then switches over to dollars. Astericked is this: _*U.S. equivalents are based on the exchange rate at the close of business today - approximately 14.75 pesos to the dollar._

Yet we all know that that's meaningless because Mr. Farmer isn't going to the bank and exchanging his pesos into dollars. What abarrotes store is going to accept dollars?

And as another comment, the link to the article about Manceras wanting to increase the min. wage (which would only take place for DF, not the rest of the country) - I've been told by several educated locals that the increase would only be a couple of pesos. But be that as it may, even an increase of 12 pesos is a joke, even for the short term.

That's all I have to say. I'm now crawling back under my rock.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

travelinhobo said:


> I also find it odd that the article only quotes in pesos once, then switches over to dollars. Astericked is this: _*U.S. equivalents are based on the exchange rate at the close of business today - approximately 14.75 pesos to the dollar._
> 
> Yet we all know that that's meaningless because Mr. Farmer isn't going to the bank and exchanging his pesos into dollars. What abarrotes store is going to accept dollars?


If the article is directed at mainly an American audience (I don't know the paper), then it's standard (in American journalism) to give all monetary figures in dollar terms. It supposedly will make a lot more sense to its main readers, and will still be comprehensible in 30 years, unlike, in all likelihood, an article left in pesos. If you go back an read an article on Mexican prices from 1984, and it was done in just pesos, it wouldn't make any sense today.

There are pros and cons to either practice. It really reaches absurdity when there's an article on Medieval times, or even Roman ones, and the reporter is reduced to ridiculous stretched positions in trying to put 15th century florins into current greenbacks.


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## Cristobal (Nov 25, 2014)

travelinhobo said:


> I was going to say thank you for not exploiting your gardener, but if he isn't doing a decent job to even earn it, why keep him on? And $2500??????? That's nuts. Please give me your address and I'll come do the gardening.
> 
> As to the other poster who is barely paying anything to his fix it guy and son, I'll withhold my thoughts so I don't get kicked off of here.


A good maestro albañil in Guadalajara earns approximately 400 pesos a day, a chalan about 250. TG isn't ripping anybody off.

The minimum wage is used as an index for many different fees, fines and other financial levels. Few people work for the bare minimum wage. There are 2 different areas, A and B. Then each profession within that area has it's own sueldo minimo. For a bricklayer in Area A, of which Guadalajara belongs, it is 98 pesos a day. A welder is a couple of pesos less. A house painter, 94. You won't find anyone in those categories working for that.

Then some, at least in construction, will do piece work, _por destajo_. I am not sure but I believe piece work in manufacturing is prohibited.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

travelinhobo said:


> I also find it odd that the article only quotes in pesos once, then switches over to dollars.


The average daily wages paid in the various parts of the country, as displayed in the illustration entirely in terms of Pesos, is, for me, the most informative thing about the article I linked. Do I find "_it odd that the article only quotes in pesos once_"? No, why would I ... considering that the article was written for an English-speaking, probably mostly from the USA, audience of readers for whom conversion to US$ for the sake of discussion seems the logical thing to do?


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

Very interesting numbers. Only DF, plus 3 of the 31 states have figures above the reported national average. Take out DF and Campeche, for example, and the average might drop significantly.
The numbers, (whatever else they may indicate), seem to explode at least one long-held belief: that residents in the northern states like Sonora (246 pesos), Sinaloa (214) and Chihuahua (256) are much better off than those in the poor southern states of Guerrero (243), Oaxaca (236) and Chiapas (226).
Sinaloa "poorer" than Chiapas?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

The distribution is interesting. It is by state not city. Apparently, Monterrey and Queretaro bring up the averages in their respective states, but Guadalajara does not. 

The fact that it is by state also probably explains why DF stands out. It is the only number that doesn't include a lot of rural areas. Why is Campeche so high?

If drug income were included, Sinaloa probably would not be the lowest in the country.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

TundraGreen said:


> The fact that it is by state also probably explains why DF stands out


Probably so.



> Why is Campeche so high?


I suspect the number is as high as it is ... because of the Pemex payroll for off-shore operations which are likely processed/recorded from Pemex's Campeche office.



> If drug income were included, Sinaloa probably would not be the lowest in the country.


Yes, the drug trade monies are staggeringly high and, obviously, not reported to the government. The nation would face financial turmoil if not for the drug trade monies plowed back into the economy (i.e., real estate, etc.).

My understanding is that the numbers on the table I posted were derived from employer-paid wages reported for various government benefits and recordkeeping purposes. It's been widely reported, for decades, that about 50% of workers in the country work off the books. As _ambulante's_, as just one example. Any of the gray economy income earned is unlikely to be reported for the purposes the chart I posted were designed for. So, the numbers are a bit skewed as I view them.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I would imagine that it is difficult to estimate or even have a good idea of what the average income in all the indigenous communities in southern Mexico are. Some communities seem to be quite well off but I doubt that much income is reported. Most of these communities are part of the cash only economy and no taxes are paid so any one can guess what the income a day is.
Some of the very remote communities are dirt poor but some communities that are closer to cities are doing quite well so who knows what people are earning.


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