In the northern border regions of Mexico the minimum wage was raised to 440 pesos per day for the New Year, which is US$24.56. In the rest of Mexico, the minimum wage is 350 pesos (US$17.50) per day. In real terms, the Mexican minimum wage has been raised by 154% in eight years. The official Mexican unemployment rate is 2.7%.

The US minimum wage is US$7.25 per hour so the US daily minimum wage for an 8 hour day is still significantly higher (US$58). But if we take into account purchasing power parity, the northern border region Mexican minimum wage is about US$49, little different to the US minimum wage.

With the US minimum wage being held stagnant by US politicians it wont be long until the Mexican border area minimum wage will be higher than the US rate in PPP terms. The kind of underlying political economy that may greatly slow northward migration, as the poor will be worse off in the US than in Mexico.

Poor people have a much higher propensity to spend than richer people, i.e. they tend to spend all of the extra money they get on local goods and services. So increases in the minimum wage tend to boost the real economy much more than tax cuts for the rich. The oligarch-serving bleating of the mainstream economists about raising the minimum wage have been shown to be the BS that they are in Mexico, and many other countries. Higher wages also tend to drive greater labour saving investments that improve labour productivity.