Cancún Restaurants Face Pressure from Wage Hike and Social Security Fees

Cancún, Mexico — The increase in the minimum wage, coupled with higher employer contributions to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), foreshadows a difficult year for restaurants in Cancún.

In addition to the minimum wage hike, the leader of restaurant owners in Cancún, Julio Villarreal Zapata, warns of a more than 20% increase in employer contributions to Social Security for 2026.

“In addition to the tax burden generated by this minimum wage increase, social contributions such as IMSS and Infonavit will increase by about 23%, which is becoming a complicated factor as they become unpayable,” he stated.

The restaurant leader added that this is a concerning scenario, as these increases occur in an economy that has not grown throughout 2025, making the tax burden, combined with the salary increase, suffocate especially micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.

To this must be added the inflationary effect that the wage increase will have; although “from the official discourse they do not want to recognize it,” during the current year and very likely in 2026, costs will continue to increase, both for the basic food basket and for food supplies in general.

He anticipated that there will be a new price increase in the restaurant sector resulting from all of the above, so he considered that workers’ purchasing power will be diminished and the stability sought with this type of measure will not be achieved.

One day earlier, the president of the Caribbean Business Coordinating Council, José Carlos Olvera Silveira, commented that, in terms of social justice, the announcement of a 13% increase in the minimum wage by President Claudia Sheinbaum is positive, although he also expressed his hope that, once a better salary level is reached in the country, increases would not exceed the annual inflation percentage.

Meanwhile, the state leader of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry, Ulises Morales, said that the sector he represents is concerned about this announcement, as an inflationary increase above 5% in 2026 is foreseeable, in addition to the fact that construction companies have already had 15 months of negative numbers in terms of their productivity, according to the latest report from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).