This year, minimum wage recipients reached the “lowest weight since 2015”, said the Minister of Labour, who highlighted that currently a fifth of workers earn 760 euros.

“We have managed to reduce the weight of the number of minimum wage workers among the total number of workers in Portugal, this year reaching the lowest weight since 2015,” stated the minister.

In January, the minimum wage will rise by 7.9%, reaching 820 euros, an increase that is the biggest which has “ever occurred”, both in absolute and relative terms.

In 2022, 24.3% of workers received the national minimum wage, while today 20.8% of workers are in this situation, according to a report by ECO.

This reflects the effort to also increase the average salary of Portuguese people. For example, for next year, the benchmark for increasing private sector salaries will be 5%, highlighted the government official.

She also highlighted that qualified young people who are changing jobs are currently achieving a salary premium of 19% between contracts.