the third country in South America with the shortest day

Reduction of working hours to 40 hours per week It is already a reality in Mexicoafter his approval and publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF). Now, the country begins a period of progressive adaptation that will end in 2030 with a 40 hour work day weekly.

This milestone places Mexico in an advantageous position with respect to the rest of the continent, being the third country in South America with the shortest working day. This change comes in a context in which the majority of Latin American countries still maintain a 48-hour work week, while only Ecuador and Chile have until now had a 40-hour regulation like the one Mexico now faces.

Mexico joins the 40-hour “club”. With the reform, Mexico joins Ecuador, a regional pioneer in reducing the working day since 1997, and Chile, which is already in the process of transitioning from 45 to 40 hours with closure planned for 2028.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) points out in its report ‘Reduction of working hours: global evolution and challenges for Latin America‘ that 48-hour work weeks remain the norm in Latin America, although some countries have moved towards shorter limits. The report highlights that reducing working hours can improve health, well-being and productivity, but clarifies that the impact depends on the economic context, the design of the reform and of complementary policies that each country adopts.

Other countries with days of less than 48 hours. Beyond the aforementioned examples of Ecuador and Chile, other Latin American countries have already reduced their working hours to below 48 hours, although without reaching the 40 hours of the Mexican project.

The Dominican Republic, Brazil, Venezuela, El Salvador and Honduras maintain a 44-hour day, while Colombia established it at 42 hours per week, after a gradual reduction that began in 2023 and concluded this year. In contrast, most of the economies in the region, including Mexico until now, continue with the 48-hour limit, which reflects a certain degree of immobility in the face of international recommendations and the experiences of reducing working hours that have already been carried out. in other countries.

How the reduction will be applied in Mexico. Taking the example of other countries that have already followed the path of reducing working hours, in Mexico, the change will be carried out gradually, with the goal of going from 48 to 40 hours weekly without altering the scheme of a single day of rest, something it shares with the recent reforms in Chile and Colombia.

The adaptation will be carried out progressively at a rate of two hours per year, so that in January 2027 the working day will become 46 hours per week; In January 2028 it will go to 44 hours and by January 2029 it will be reduced to 42 hours. In January 2030, the cycle ends and the working day will be established at a 40-hour work week. All this without applying a salary reduction.

The labor challenges of Latin America. The ILO report highlights that the reduction of working hours in Latin America faces specific challenges, such as high levels of informality in contracting, limited coverage of collective bargaining and a tendency to underground economywhich conditions the scope of the reforms.

Furthermore, sectors such as domestic work, moonlighting and gender gaps They require specific regulatory frameworks for their respective labor markets and not a simple copy of the models that have worked in high-income countries.

In Xataka | If the question is how to do your job without extending the working day, the answer is simple: avoid “time traps”