Mexico Considers the 40-Hour Workweek

Mexico is debating shortening its workweek from 48 hours to 40, but not everyone is on board. The Mexican bill made it out of committee last week, and it likely has the votes to pass when the legislative session restarts in September. In Mexico, cutting the workweek from the current 48 hours would give workers an extra day off per week. More than 40% of Mexicans (PDF) work six days a week, according to the national statistics institute.

“We want workers here to work to live, not live to work,” Mexican Congress Member Susana Prieto Terrazas, who introduced the proposal, told Noticias Telemundo this week. “A lot of people work 10 or 12 hours daily and on top of that they take up to four hours going to work and back home That’s not life,” she added. Prieto Terrazas dismissed concerns about the law’s possible immediate application, saying companies have months to become familiar with the draft and make preparations before the congressional vote. The bill comes as other countries push to adopt a four-day workweek. “The vast majority of companies taking part in the world’s largest trial of a four-day week have opted to continue with the new working pattern, in a result hailed as evidence that it could work across the UK economy,” reported The Guardian in March of this year.

“Of the 61 companies that entered the six-month trial, 56 have extended the four-day week, including 18 who have made it permanent.”