Mexico’s Parliament will debate a revised legislative proposal on the ability for Mexican companies to use outsourced services and a ban on staffing solutions, the World Employment Confederation reported today. The organization — which represents the staffing industry on a global basis — called for the government to shape regulation that allows for temporary agency work.
“Mexico stands on the crossroads of its response to a changing world of work and the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic,” the WEC wrote. “Mexican workers need all the labor market support and job opportunities they can get. Through agency work, private employment services provide the grease to gears that makes the labor market run.”
The WEC continued, “As such, the World Employment Confederation urgently calls upon the Mexican Parliament to recognize agency work in Mexican law in a way that fits the country’s reality and labor market needs.”
Both the WEC and its member organization in Mexico, AMECH, stand ready to assist legislators, the statement said.
The WEC also noted agency work represents a steppingstone into the workforce for millions of people and allows them to gain experience. It also noted 73% of agency workers globally are still in employment 12 months after they started an agency work job.
And as economies recover from Covid-19, workers will need all the help they can get transitioning to new jobs, the WEC wrote, and staffing firms can provide that help. In addition, staffing allows for great agility among companies, enabling them to grow in an uncertain market.
The WEC also argued staffing can help fight bad actors in the labor market.
“The World Employment Confederation stands side by side with any government that seeks to root out malicious actors and informality,” it wrote. “But this can only be done successfully if the quality alternative for flexible employment exists; an alternative that provides a pathway out of informality and into sustainable labor market participation. Agency work is that alternative.”
While Mexico’s Parliament is debating the legislation this week, Bloomberg recently reported that Mexico’s government had reached an initial agreement with businesses and unions over the legislation.