7 ms·

Yeah, I kind of do the same at my company, but it's not a public matter. Once an employee gets enough training and is valuable enough for the company, my minim

Yeah, I kind of do the same at my company, but it's not a public matter. Once an employee gets enough training and is valuable enough for the company, my minimum wage is 1200 pesos weekly. (I'm from Mexico). It's not a huge change, but almost any employee reach that salary within a year in my company. (The minimum wage in mexico is about 402 pesos weekly)

edgarvaldes 12y ago
The real (legal) mininum wage in Mexico is a joke. How much do you pay until the employee gets to that "level"?
- sebastianavina 12y ago
  the entrance wage is about 700 a week, its the wage most people earn on maquilas. Thats the wage for the first 2 or 4 weeks for testing the subject. In Mexico is very expensive to lay off people, if you lay off somebody without a reason is called "Despido injustificado" and you're mandated by law to pay 3 months of wage. Also, if the subject has been on your company for a while, you have to pay about 20 days per year worked at your company. Laying off somebody with about 20 years working for you, is paying about a year of wage as compensation. Mandated by law.
e12e 12y ago
~4000 USD a year, given paid vacation time? Did I get that right? Any tax/medical/etc comming out of that? I knew there was a big difference from the US to Mexico... but... wow.
- hobarrera 12y ago
  Yeah, that sound quite a bit above the minimum for Argentina as well (though a lot less than any software developer or similar professional would make). Remember how they say that you can feed someone in Africa with just 1USD per day (356USD a year?). Well, you've got plenty of countries that are halfway between these places and USA, and a lot more than you'd guess.
  - e12e 12y ago
    Are you saying I could live on 10 USD a day in Argentina, including renting a room, and eating food? How much for Internet access? That'd be a cheap retreat at ~1000 USD for 3 months (assuming a 3 month vacation VISA).
    - Symbiote 12y ago
      I've just returned from Morocco, where the cheapest backpacker hostel bed was around $5. I never stayed in one, they're probably not too nice, but would include linen and cleaning. A small loaf of bread was about 10¢, fruit or lentils similarly cheap. This is how teenage/student Europeans (mostly) can afford year-long holidays before or during university. Argentina looks to be about twice as expensive for a bed, for a tourist, so I don't know if $10 is doable for three months — there might be restrictions on foreigners renting, for example.
    - hobarrera 12y ago
      Nope, I didn't say that. I said that that is the minimum wage, but that doesn't mean that those people a life you'd want. A great deal would be considered poor but US/EU standards, and live in rather poor zones, lack internet access, natural gas or running water (eg: my grandparents have water pumps to get underground waters at home, because that's their only choice). Several millon people (literally) work in Buenos Aires City, but don't live in the city, and have 1-2 hour trips (one-way trip) to work every day. If you want to stay in a large city, in a relatively safe area, you'd need trice that sum.
      - e12e 12y ago
        Ah, I see. Still, 1000 USD a month is still quite affordable... more affordable then I'd have thought. Thank you for the clarification.
        hobarrera 12y ago
        Yup, with 1kUSD a month you can live in Buenos Aires. Not renting your own fancy flat, but you can definitely make it. Bonus point: USDs can be traded for ~13ARS in many non-official locations (while the official price is ~9ARS).
- bitserf 12y ago
  Cost of living is accordingly lower. I lived quite comfortably on my monthly wage of $400 in South Africa when I was starting out in 1998. When it got to around $1800 a month it was really, really comfortable. Your foreign purchasing power sucks so I never bought Apple, but food, accommodation and anything else in the local economy was affordable as heck.
  - e12e 12y ago
    > Cost of living is accordingly lower. I get that it is lower, I'm a little surprised that it could be accordingly lower. I mean Mexico and the US must be pretty much the same market in terms of food, energy, water prices etc. Half I could understand, one tenth for crossing a border with lots of trade going both ways... it's more than I expected.
    - spacemanmatt 12y ago
      You pay the billionaire overhead in America.
- sebastianavina 12y ago
  a week paid vacation the first year is mandated by law, I have employees with 3 weeks paid vacations a year. Paid vacations are paid with something called "prima vacacional" basically you earn 25% more the week you are on vacations. On december there is another bonus called "aguinaldo" paid by law. Basically I pay three weeks of wage because christmas. All my employees have full health care benefits, and access to Infonavit. Infonavit is a housing government dependency (housing loans) All of my employees have house, full health care benefits, car, and free university for their sons. Very few people can say that on the US. So basically I believe we are better than the US.
  - e12e 12y ago
    That's all very good. I didn't mean to imply any criticism -- I was just wondering what that pay meant in terms of after-tax etc income per year. Curious about the house-loan thing: how long does it take to pay for a house with that wage? Can you buy a house with 4k or 8k USD a year in household income, and own that house after ~25 years in Mexico? (As 8k*25 ~ 200k -- I suppose that's not entirely unreasonable. You might be able to get a one-room apartment for that price in Norway, so assuming 50% of the income is spent on housing, and considerably lower cost for housing... not as far fetched as I initially thought).
    - sebastianavina 12y ago
      One of my employees bought house last month, he earns with me 1800 weekly, his wife earns I guess a little less, he bought a 890,000 house, morgaged in 20 years, i don't know how much is he paying monthly but for what he told me, he pays for the mortgage about the same he paid for rent. the house is 3 bedrooms, kitchen, and garden, a fairly decent one... most of my employees have houses valued around 290k, the main reason is because their wives doesnt work and they can pull just one infonavit loan. 290k houses are really small, about 80m^2 for what I know. but well, is a brand new house after all.
      - e12e 12y ago
        Where in Mexico is this?

edgarvaldes 12y ago

The real (legal) mininum wage in Mexico is a joke. How much do you pay until the employee gets to that "level"?

sebastianavina 12y ago
the entrance wage is about 700 a week, its the wage most people earn on maquilas. Thats the wage for the first 2 or 4 weeks for testing the subject. In Mexico is very expensive to lay off people, if you lay off somebody without a reason is called "Despido injustificado" and you're mandated by law to pay 3 months of wage. Also, if the subject has been on your company for a while, you have to pay about 20 days per year worked at your company. Laying off somebody with about 20 years working for you, is paying about a year of wage as compensation. Mandated by law.

e12e 12y ago

~4000 USD a year, given paid vacation time? Did I get that right? Any tax/medical/etc comming out of that? I knew there was a big difference from the US to Mexico... but... wow.

hobarrera 12y ago
Yeah, that sound quite a bit above the minimum for Argentina as well (though a lot less than any software developer or similar professional would make). Remember how they say that you can feed someone in Africa with just 1USD per day (356USD a year?). Well, you've got plenty of countries that are halfway between these places and USA, and a lot more than you'd guess.
- e12e 12y ago
  Are you saying I could live on 10 USD a day in Argentina, including renting a room, and eating food? How much for Internet access? That'd be a cheap retreat at ~1000 USD for 3 months (assuming a 3 month vacation VISA).
  - Symbiote 12y ago
    I've just returned from Morocco, where the cheapest backpacker hostel bed was around $5. I never stayed in one, they're probably not too nice, but would include linen and cleaning. A small loaf of bread was about 10¢, fruit or lentils similarly cheap. This is how teenage/student Europeans (mostly) can afford year-long holidays before or during university. Argentina looks to be about twice as expensive for a bed, for a tourist, so I don't know if $10 is doable for three months — there might be restrictions on foreigners renting, for example.
  - hobarrera 12y ago
    Nope, I didn't say that. I said that that is the minimum wage, but that doesn't mean that those people a life you'd want. A great deal would be considered poor but US/EU standards, and live in rather poor zones, lack internet access, natural gas or running water (eg: my grandparents have water pumps to get underground waters at home, because that's their only choice). Several millon people (literally) work in Buenos Aires City, but don't live in the city, and have 1-2 hour trips (one-way trip) to work every day. If you want to stay in a large city, in a relatively safe area, you'd need trice that sum.
    - e12e 12y ago
      Ah, I see. Still, 1000 USD a month is still quite affordable... more affordable then I'd have thought. Thank you for the clarification.
      - hobarrera 12y ago
        Yup, with 1kUSD a month you can live in Buenos Aires. Not renting your own fancy flat, but you can definitely make it. Bonus point: USDs can be traded for ~13ARS in many non-official locations (while the official price is ~9ARS).
bitserf 12y ago
Cost of living is accordingly lower. I lived quite comfortably on my monthly wage of $400 in South Africa when I was starting out in 1998. When it got to around $1800 a month it was really, really comfortable. Your foreign purchasing power sucks so I never bought Apple, but food, accommodation and anything else in the local economy was affordable as heck.
- e12e 12y ago
  > Cost of living is accordingly lower. I get that it is lower, I'm a little surprised that it could be accordingly lower. I mean Mexico and the US must be pretty much the same market in terms of food, energy, water prices etc. Half I could understand, one tenth for crossing a border with lots of trade going both ways... it's more than I expected.
  - spacemanmatt 12y ago
    You pay the billionaire overhead in America.
sebastianavina 12y ago
a week paid vacation the first year is mandated by law, I have employees with 3 weeks paid vacations a year. Paid vacations are paid with something called "prima vacacional" basically you earn 25% more the week you are on vacations. On december there is another bonus called "aguinaldo" paid by law. Basically I pay three weeks of wage because christmas. All my employees have full health care benefits, and access to Infonavit. Infonavit is a housing government dependency (housing loans) All of my employees have house, full health care benefits, car, and free university for their sons. Very few people can say that on the US. So basically I believe we are better than the US.
- e12e 12y ago
  That's all very good. I didn't mean to imply any criticism -- I was just wondering what that pay meant in terms of after-tax etc income per year. Curious about the house-loan thing: how long does it take to pay for a house with that wage? Can you buy a house with 4k or 8k USD a year in household income, and own that house after ~25 years in Mexico? (As 8k*25 ~ 200k -- I suppose that's not entirely unreasonable. You might be able to get a one-room apartment for that price in Norway, so assuming 50% of the income is spent on housing, and considerably lower cost for housing... not as far fetched as I initially thought).
  - sebastianavina 12y ago
    One of my employees bought house last month, he earns with me 1800 weekly, his wife earns I guess a little less, he bought a 890,000 house, morgaged in 20 years, i don't know how much is he paying monthly but for what he told me, he pays for the mortgage about the same he paid for rent. the house is 3 bedrooms, kitchen, and garden, a fairly decent one... most of my employees have houses valued around 290k, the main reason is because their wives doesnt work and they can pull just one infonavit loan. 290k houses are really small, about 80m^2 for what I know. but well, is a brand new house after all.
    - e12e 12y ago
      Where in Mexico is this?