Mexico
Make employment in Mexico easy. Let us handle payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and even stock options for your team in Mexico, all in one easy-to-use platform.
- Capital City
Mexico City
- Currency
Mexican peso ($, MXN)
- Languages
Spanish
- Population size
128,649,565
Facts & Stats
- Capital City
Mexico City
- Currency
Mexican peso ($, MXN)
- Languages
Spanish
- Population size
128,649,565
- Ease of doing business
Easy
- Cost of living index
$$ (100 of 139 nations)
- Payroll frequency
Semi-monthly
- VAT - standard rate
16%
- GDP - real growth rate
1.994% (2018 est.)
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is a country in the southern portion of North America. It has the world's 15th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 11th-largest by PPP, with the United States being its largest economic partner. The large economy, area, population and politics make Mexico a regional power and a middle power, and is often identified as an emerging power.
Grow your team in Mexico with Remote
Looking to employ workers in Mexico? Companies hiring in Mexico must either own a legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solutions provider, usually one that provides employer of record services.
Remote can employ your team in Mexico on your behalf through our local legal entity in the country and handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for your Mexico team. You can also pay contractors now in Mexico with Remote.
Risks of misclassification
Mexico, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time employees differently. Misclassification of contractors in Mexico may lead to fines and penalties for the offending company.
Employing in Mexico
Mexican employment law and employment rights are contained under the Constitution of the United Mexican States (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) as well as Federal Labour Law. The employment rights provided in these can apply to anyone providing subordinated services. Employment rights in Mexico are also inalienable, meaning that they apply to everyone deemed to carry out suborindated work in Mexico, regardless of the jurisdiction chosen in employment agreements.
Federal Labour Law and Mexican labour courts are very employee-protective and favours the employee. As such, Mexican employment law provides strong labor conditions and protections for employees, so employing people will generally be an important investment and commitment.
Temporary agencies are popular options for more flexible workforce arrangements. For these and many other reasons, the following are only guidelines in the broadest sense, and professional legal services are recommended when employing in Mexico.
Minimum Wage
There are two types of minimum wages: a general minimum wage that applies to everyone regardless of age, industry and experience and a "professional" minimum wage that applies to certain employees depending on their profession, craft or activity.
For the general minimum wage, there are two categories:
MXN 374.89 per day for workers in Mexico's Free Zone northern border municipalities that experience higher costs of living
MXN 248. 93 per day for the rest of the country
Payroll Cycle
For customers of Remote, all employee payments will be made in semi-monthly installments by the 15th and 30th of each month.
Onboarding Time
We can help you get a new employee started in Mexico fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 3 working days.
Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.
For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.
Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.
Disclaimer: Remote is committed to the highest standard of compliance to protect our customers. Mexico has unique employment laws, some of which include rules regarding the ratio between citizens and foreign nationals a company may employ in the country. To protect our customers, Remote may periodically pause the hiring of foreign nationals in Mexico and add any pending hires to a waitlist. The timeline for onboarding foreign national employees on this waitlist will depend on a number of factors, including offboardings, terminations, and new Remote hires of Mexican nationals.Remote is always able to onboard Mexican nationals who meet standard employment requirements. This disclaimer only applies to the onboarding of foreign nationals living and working in Mexico, including those with permanent resident status.
8 Public holidays
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Effortless HR in Mexico: Take the Tour
Competitive benefits package in Mexico
At Remote, we’re obsessed with helping you craft the best possible employee experience for your team. We are leading the way in practicing “fair equity,” which means making sure employees everywhere have access to both the required and supplemental benefits they need to thrive (and that will allow you to attract the best local talent).
Our benefits packages in Mexico are tailored to fulfill the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Mental Health Support
Pension or 401(K)
Life and Disability Insurance
Taxes in Mexico
Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in Mexico.
20.40%
Maternity & Illness (fixed quota)
5%
Housing Fund
3.15%
Seniority Insurance
3%
State Payroll Tax maximum (depends on employee state and gross salary)
2%
Retirement
1.75%
Disability & Life Insurance
1.10%
Maternity & Illness (extra quota)
1.05%
Maternity & Illness - retired medical expenses quota
1%
Daycare Insurance
0.7%
Maternity & Illness - cash benefits quota
0.54355%
Labor risk insurance
Types of leave
Federal Labor Law in Mexico provides for a minimum vacation period that all employers must grant to their employees. The amount of minimum vacation days are dependent on the employee's lenght of service, as described below:
One year of service: 12 days
Two years of service: 14 days
Three years of service: 16 days
Four years of service: 18 days
Five years of service: 20 days
After the sixth year of service the annual leave will be increased by 2 days every 5 years of service.
Employment termination
Termination process
Federal Labor Law provides a distinction between dismissal (Spanish: despido) and termination (Spanish: terminación). Dismissal can be justified by reasons related to the employee's conduct, while termination can be for economic reasons, employee's incapacity, force majeur, death of the employee or termination of the work.
Notice period
Employers and employees have no obligation to notify the other party in advance of a dismissal or resignation and notice obligations for employees are not recognized or enforceable under Mexican law. Notice obligations for employers can be enforced if they have been agreed to, but it is uncommon for Mexican employers to do so.
Probation periods
If the employment contract is for more than 180 days or for an indefinite period of time, the employer may put in place a probationary period of up to 30 days. It is possible to extend the probationary period by up to 180 days for managerial, technical or professional positions
Fair Pricing in Mexico
Employer of Record
Hire and pay your global team
Starting at $599/month
for annual plans
Top features
Satisfaction guaranteed
No deposits or hidden fees
Zero onboarding or offboarding fees
Compliant equity incentives support including withholding and reporting
Built-in security and compliance
Fast onboarding (average 2-3 days)
Flexible, localized benefits
Top features
Only pay for contractors you actively work with
Work with contractors in 200+ countries
Create, edit, and sign tailored, localized contracts
Approve contractor invoices with one click or auto-pay
Transparent payments with complete visibility
Remote Payroll
Consolidate your multi-country payroll
$50
per employee/month
Top features
Reduce costs by centralizing payroll management
Ensure local compliance for every country
Direct support from in-house local payroll experts
Accurate, on-time, compliant payroll to level-up your employee experience
Tax and labor authority reporting handled for you
Top features
Guided onboarding and offboarding
Employee profile and document management
Time and attendance (time off and tracking)
Expense management and reimbursement
Employee self-serve on the platform and mobile app