The percentage of workers receiving the national minimum wage fell 2.2 percentage points in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in the previous year, to 22.4%, according to data from the Ministry of Labor released today in Social Dialogue.
The document presented at the meeting with the social partners does not state, however, the total number of workers currently receiving the national minimum wage.
The calculations of the ministry’s strategy and planning office are based on the monthly remuneration statements of employees and MOE (members of statutory bodies – administrators, managers, and managers not subject to an employment contract).
The decrease in the percentage of workers earning the minimum wage “was common to both genders and to the young (-3.0 percentage points (p.p.) in women, -1.5 p.p. in men and -2.6 p.p. in workers under 25),” the ministry indicates.
Thus, adds the same source, “in March 2023, there were 80,000 fewer workers” with the national minimum wage than in March 2022, “even though the volume of employment has grown.
The document also indicates that about 107,000 workers changed jobs between October 2022 and March 2023 and obtained an average salary increase of 13%, or about 150 euros.
Of the total number of workers who changed jobs, 52,000 are young people who received, on average, increases of 16% (about 160 euros) in the same six-month period.
The Government also highlights again that, in general terms, until April, salaries grew on average by about 8% compared to last year, to 1,328 euros, at the same time as there is a growth in declared employment (180 thousand more workers compared to 2022).
