A technician's hour gets 20% more expensive by law by 2030

In 2018, Mexico's general minimum wage was 88.36 pesos a day. In 2026 it's 315.04. Any service rate set a few years ago and updated only for inflation is priced on a labor cost that no longer exists.

	Minimum wage
2018	MX$88.36
2019	MX$102.68
2020	MX$123.22
2021	MX$141.7
2022	MX$172.87
2023	MX$207.44
2024	MX$248.93
2025	MX$278.8
2026	MX$315.04

CONASAMI, general minimum wage (outside the Northern Border Free Zone)

Now another change adds to it. The Federal Labor Law reform published on May 1, 2026 cuts the workweek from 48 to 40 hours between 2026 and 2030, and its seventh transitory article says the reduction can't mean lower wages, salaries or benefits. If weekly pay stays the same and ordinary hours drop from 48 to 40, each ordinary hour costs 20% more. In 2027, at 46 hours, the increase is already 4.3%.

For a company whose product is a technician's hour, that isn't an HR matter. It's the price.

Where the hour goes

The hour you pay isn't the hour you bill. A good share of it goes on the road. Using the TomTom Traffic Index 2025 average for Mexico City, 3 minutes 27 seconds per kilometer, a visit 15 km away is about 52 minutes each way. Round trip, almost an hour and three quarters before anyone touches the equipment. With regular (Magna) gasoline around 23.8 pesos per liter in September 2026, per the prices reported by Mexico's energy commission (CNE), and a vehicle doing 10 km per liter (our assumption), those 30 km are about 71 pesos of fuel.

Then there are the visits that shouldn't exist. Aquant's 2025 report found that one in seven on-site visits was unnecessary, and that when the first visit fails it takes two more on average. Each one repeats the full drive.

Why almost nobody knows what a ticket costs

The month's total margin hides what matters. One large contract can be subsidizing two that lose money without anyone noticing, because each service's cost is spread across different places: hours on an attendance sheet, kilometers on another, parts in inventory, expenses in loose receipts. Adding them up per ticket is an analysis project nobody has time for every month.

The decision: cost comes from the record, not extra data entry

In waydot, the ticket is the backbone of the record. When it closes, it's already linked to the technician's time on site and on the road, the route, the parts used according to inventory transfers, and the receipted expenses. Job costing adds up those components and shows what each finished job cost and how it breaks down. Nobody enters anything extra: cost is a by-product of keeping a good operational record.

With that in view, questions that couldn't be answered before show up:

• Which customers are profitable? One with a high rate can be barely profitable if its sites are far away or it needs many return visits.
• Which services do we quote wrong? If an installation always takes twice as long as planned, the rate is wrong.
• What does not fixing it the first time cost us?
• Which areas should be served from a different base?

For the next renewal

With cost per ticket, the commercial conversation changes. When renewing a contract you can show in numbers what it costs to serve the most remote sites or after-hours emergencies, and adjust rates or service levels with evidence. The timing is good: the 40-hour calendar is already published, and every January 1 until 2030 the cost per hour goes up again.

Sources

• CONASAMI, 2026 minimum wage increase and minimum wage history.
• Federal Labor Law, second and seventh transitory articles of the decree published in the DOF on May 1, 2026.
• TomTom Traffic Index 2025, Mexico City.
• CNE, retail gasoline and diesel prices.
• Aquant, 2025 Field Service Benchmark Report (press release, February 13, 2025).