Mexico 40-hour workweek in manufacturing: how many more people your packaging line needs from 2027 to 2030

Divide 144 by 48 and you get 3 crews. Divide 144 by 40 and you get 3.6. That 144 is the hours per week on a packaging line running 3 shifts of 8 hours, 6 days a week, and Mexico’s 40-hour workweek in manufacturing adds that 0.6 by 2030, in steps starting January 1, 2027 and with no pay cuts (DOF, March 3, 2026).

Mexico 40-hour workweek in manufacturing: what the DOF says

There are two decrees in the DOF, Mexico’s official gazette. The March 3, 2026 decree amended fractions IV and XI of Section A of Article 123 of the Constitution, and the May 1, 2026 decree carried the change into the Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo, or LFT), with this calendar:

The articles you will want to go over with your labor attorney:

• Article 59: maximum ordinary workweek of 40 hours, on the calendar in the second transitory article.
• Article 66: overtime at a 100% premium, up to 4 hours a day on at most 4 days. The weekly limit comes from the fourth transitory article.
• Article 68: anything above that limit cannot exceed 4 hours a week and is paid at a 200% premium. Ordinary plus overtime, 12 hours a day at most.
• Article 58: the workday can be distributed by mutual agreement.
• Article 132, fraction XXXIV, and Article 994, fraction IV Bis: electronic record of the start and end of the workday, with a fine of 250 to 5,000 UMA (the indexed unit Mexico uses to set fines), MXN 29,327.50 to MXN 586,550 at the UMA of MXN 117.31 (INEGI, the national statistics agency, 2026).
• Seventh transitory article: the reduction cannot lower pay, wages or benefits.

The reform covers all of Section A, the part of Article 123 that governs private-sector jobs, and each plant will feel it differently: Adecco Group Institute estimates that 28% of manufacturing staff work more than 40 hours (via El CEO, February 19, 2026).

How many more people does my line need in 2027?

To cover the same hours (Target Robotics calculation with assumptions: all crews at the maximum workweek, without counting vacations or absenteeism):

The formula is people per shift, times hours of coverage, divided by the workweek. It works for any position on the line: case packing, stretch wrapping, forklift. A line with 10 people per shift at 3 shifts goes from 30 to 36 in 2030.

Nobody hires 0.3 of a person. On a single line, the step gets covered with one full relief worker: 7 people are enough through 2029 (7 × 42 = 294 hours against the 288 the line needs), and in 2030 the line comes up 8 hours a week short. With several lines, the decimals add up and a relief worker can be shared.

In money, at MXN 14,000 to MXN 19,000 per person per month (where that cost comes from), the 1.2 people of 2030 cost MXN 201,600 to MXN 273,600 a year. With 4 per shift it doubles, and with 6 it triples (Target Robotics calculation with assumptions).

How much the cost per hour goes up in January

From January 1, 2027, the same weekly pay gets spread over 46 hours instead of 48. Each hour worked costs 48 divided by 46: 4.35% more. The math carries on the same way through the other steps (Target Robotics calculation: 48 divided by the workweek of each year, with pay unchanged):

That percentage is arithmetic and holds for the shift that works 48 hours today. A night shift of 42 hours keeps its cost per hour until 2030.

Concanaco Servytur, a confederation of business chambers, reaches the same 4.35% in a special report and adds the minimum wage on top: if it rises between 10% and 12% in 2027, it estimates that wage cost per hour would go up between 14.8% and 16.9%, before additional contributions and changes in productivity (Publimetro, November 3, 2026, in Spanish). It is the estimate of a business chamber: the article presents it as a projection, with no standing as a formal proposal, and the 2027 minimum wage increase enters there as an assumption.

Budget 2027 with the new cost per hour: weekly pay stays the same and the hours go down. In pesos, the January step for a line of 3 shifts with 2 people per shift runs MXN 43,800 to MXN 62,600 a year, depending on whether you cover it by hiring or with overtime; the table is further down.

Do all shifts get cut the same?

The table shows the ceiling. Article 61 sets the daily workday at 8 hours for day shift, 7 for night and 7.5 for mixed; over 6 days that comes to 48, 42 and 45 hours. With those numbers, day shift goes over the limit in 2027, mixed in 2028 and night not until 2030.

If your third shift already works 7 hours, it won’t need relief until the last step. If it works 8 and you pay the eighth as overtime, review that roster with your attorney, because Article 66 limits overtime to 4 days a week. Your number comes from the hours each shift has under contract today, and that is the place to start.

Do I have to give two days off?

No. Article 69 still requires one day of rest for every 6 worked, and Article 58 allows the workday to be distributed by mutual agreement. The 40 hours of 2030 fit in 5 days of 8 hours or in 6 days of 6 hours and 40 minutes. That changes the roster and leaves coverage as it was: 3 crews at 40 hours give 120 hours a week, and the 24 missing to reach 144 have to be covered some other way.

Is it cheaper to hire or to pay overtime?

A line of 3 shifts with 2 people per shift, with pay of MXN 10,000 a month and a fully loaded cost of MXN 14,000 to MXN 19,000 (Target Robotics calculation with assumptions; overtime at double the hourly rate, without adding employer contributions):

The 8 hours of 2030 fit under the limit of 12, spread over at most 4 days and up to 4 hours a day, which means a full sixth day of 8 hours can no longer be covered as overtime.

Hiring wins in every row as long as you can hire fractions, and that only happens with several lines. On a single line, one full relief worker costs MXN 168,000 to MXN 228,000 a year from day one. With one line, overtime works as a bridge through 2028 and the relief worker pays off from 2029 on. On one shift with 2 people, the 8 hours of 2030 cost MXN 96,000 a year in overtime (same calculation), so a full relief worker doesn’t pay off there.

Adecco Group Institute estimates up to 36% more labor cost with overtime and about 22% by hiring (via El CEO, February 19, 2026; the article does not explain the method). Hiring also means finding people: 67% of employers in Mexico report difficulty filling vacancies, with operations and logistics among the hardest (ManpowerGroup via Publimetro, March 10, 2026).

What alternatives are there besides hiring?

Automation gets measured by payback, and the shorter workweek cuts it because the same stacking already takes more people (Target Robotics calculation with assumptions: MXN 14,000 to MXN 19,000 per person per month; 71% fewer operators as the average goal according to HowToRobot, 2026; MXN 18.50 to the dollar, Tetakawi, 2026; labor only):

The shorter workweek cuts payback at 3 shifts and hardly moves the decision on one shift. The full table is in when a robotic palletizer pays off, the payback calculator runs it with your crew, and the other positions at the end of the line are in end of line packaging.

What do I need ready before January 1, 2027?

1. The roster for each shift, with contracted hours. Whatever a shift works above 46 hours starts counting as overtime on that day.
2. Contracts and agreements adjusted. The period in the third transitory article ends on December 31, 2026.
3. The electronic record. Article 132 requires the start and end of each person’s workday, and the STPS, Mexico’s labor ministry, must define scope and exceptions in provisions that take effect January 1, 2027. As of November 3, 2026 we could not locate their publication (El Contribuyente, October 22, 2026, still lists them as pending entry into force).
4. An overtime policy that respects the 9-hour limit of 2027.
5. The budget line. For a line with 2 people per shift, MXN 43,800 to MXN 62,600 in 2027, depending on how you cover it.

Ask human resources for each shift’s current roster and production for the hours of coverage from last week. Those two sheets fill in the people table for your plant, and the fully loaded payroll cost turns it into a budget.