Overview

• Mexico’s government has committed to cutting the legal workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030 through annual two-hour reductions beginning in 2026.
• Authorities have guaranteed that existing labor rights—including a mandatory 30-minute meal break for shifts over six hours—will remain intact under the new law.
• The Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social has concluded six regional forums and is finalizing a technical report to underpin a legislative proposal due to be presented before Congress in autumn.
• Pilot programs by Walmart de México y Centroamérica and Tiendas 3B have been testing three flexible scheduling models: five 8-hour days, four 10-hour days or six 6.5-hour days.
• Concanaco-Servytur has warned that employers could end up paying 48 hours of wages for roughly 34 hours of effective work and has proposed fiscal incentives, payroll-tax relief and a tripartite observatory to ease the transition.