Why can’t Mexico’s left-wing government pass a pro-worker bill?

The economic and political realities of a working-hours reduction reform are at odds.

The Big News Breakdown. Unpacking this week’s most important news.

After much delay, a proposal to reduce the legal length of Mexico’s working week is crawling through Congress. The comparison is stark: The ruling Morena party and its allies hold a decisive super-majority, which passed far more controversial constitutional reforms—most notably the one that revolutionised the country’s justice system—have been known to pass practically overnight.

This particular reform dragging workers’ rights into the 21st century should have been an easy one for the political movement that doubled the minimum wage. Yet the governing coalition has dithered to no end. The answer as to why is simple enough:

Political necessity is getting in the way of an increasingly obvious economic truth.

Economies of reason

Start with the basic facts of the proposed bill. The two big changes on the table are to bring the working week down from 48 to 40 hours, and to give Mexicans an extra day off. Mind you, this would barely give workers a two day weekend. All this as other countries experiment with the four-day week.