WORKERS' minimum wage will go up by 8% next year as part of a gradual move towards its reaching 60% of the average salary in Spain, in line with European Union requirements.
The opposition, in majority, approved this in Parliament last month, with the aim of the lowest-possible pre-tax pay for a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job sitting at €950 by the year 2019.
But now, the increase has been made official after the Lower Chamber formally signed it off yesterday (Thursday).
At present, the minimum monthly salary for a full-time job is €655, albeit over 14 wage packets – a double one in August and at Christmas – meaning firms which pay 12 salaries a year must give their staff a minimum of €764.17 a month.
Self-employed workers earning less than the minimum wage are not required to pay their Social Security stamp, a fixed monthly fee of €267.03 irrespective of earnings.
For employees, they will not have to pay more than 3% of their gross salary in Social Security.
Companies bear the bulk of staff's Social Security contributions, which covers healthcare, retirement pension and provision for State benefits, paying 44% on top of employees' gross wages, but a small contribution is also made by the employee.
The minimum wage change was agreed during the same session as the Lower Chamber agreed its spending limit for 2017, which will be €118.34 billion, not taking into account the cost of repayment of loans and interest.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com