Mexico's working hours since 2005: about 400 a year more than in the US
The OECD puts the average worker in Mexico at 2,205 hours in 2025, against 1,800 in the US and 1,736 across the OECD. The 48-hour limit dates to the 1917 Constitution; from 2027 it falls toward 40.
INEGI counted 13.9 million people in Mexico working more than 48 hours a week in Apr-Jun 2026. Our sister site covers the survey and the reform; here, it's set against Mexico's long record of working hours.
Eight hours since 1917
The Constitution, published on 5 Feb 1917, set the limit in Article 123: the maximum workday would be eight hours, with at least one day of rest for every six days of work. Eight hours over six days is the 48-hour week Mexico has kept for more than a century. In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act took effect on 24 Oct 1938, initially requiring overtime pay after 44 hours a week.
The hours, year by year
The OECD's figures for Mexico jump by 167 hours in 2005, the year INEGI's current employment survey began. A jump that size points to a change in the data rather than in work, so this comparison starts there. That year, the average worker in Mexico put in 2,290 hours. By 2025 it was 2,205, 3.7% fewer, by our arithmetic. Over the same twenty years, the US went from 1,842 to 1,800 hours, 2.3% fewer, and the OECD average from 1,823 to 1,736, 4.8% fewer.
↔ Swipe sideways to see the whole chart.
Average annual hours actually worked per worker. Mexico: 2005 2,290; 2010 2,254; 2015 2,248; 2020 2,231; 2025 2,205. The US: 1,842; 1,810; 1,831; 1,800; 1,800. OECD average: 1,823; 1,796; 1,790; 1,687; 1,736. OECD.
Where Mexico stands
In 2025, the gap with the US was 405 hours, 22.5% more, by our arithmetic, or about eight hours a week across a year of 52 weeks. In the OECD's data, Mexico has the longest hours of the 41 countries with 2025 figures so far, a list that includes some non-members; Colombia and Peru, which both logged more than Mexico in 2024, haven't reported 2025 yet.
Over two decades, the record suggests hours in Mexico have fallen slowly, at a pace close to the OECD's, without closing much of the gap. The reform published on 3 Mar 2026 lowers the legal limit to 46 hours on 1 Jan 2027 and to 40 in 2030. The OECD figures are annual hours actually worked per person at work, including part-time and self-employed workers, so they won't move one-for-one with the legal week.
Sources
- OECD, Average annual hours actually worked per worker (DF_AVG_ANN_HRS_WKD), Mexico, the US and OECD, 2005-2025, 2026-11-03. Link
- Constitution of 1917, Article 123, original text (DOF 5 Feb 1917), SCJN compilation, 1917-02-05. Link
- Diario Oficial de la Federación, decree reducing the working week (Article 123), 2026-03-03. Link
- INEGI, ENOE, second quarter of 2026 (bulletin 503/26), 2026-08-25. Link
- US Department of Labor, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 1938-06-25. Link
- Wikipedia, Working time (context), 2026-11-03. Link
- Wikipedia, Jornada de trabajo (context), 2026-11-03. Link
The same release, as this week's numbers, on our sister site: rutanamex.com/blog/working-week-48-hours-2026.
Older: The peso since 1993: from 3.11 to 18.80 pesos per dollar