State pensions rise by just 0.25% and minimum wage by 8% to €707 a month
Tuesday, January 3, 2017 @ 6:35 PM
SPAIN'S government has agreed to increase retirement pensions by 0.25% - the legal minimum – and the minimum wage by 8% from its current €655.20 a month for a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job to €707.70 a month.
President Mariano Rajoy, of the right-wing PP party, says the minimum wage hike is 'the greatest in 30 years' and is 'thanks to the country's improved economy'.
Pensions are required to go up by a minimum of 0.25% a year and a maximum of the rate of inflation, or IPC index, plus 0.5%.
Current figures show the highest contributory State pensions now sit at €2,573.70 a month and the average is €1,500, or 93% of the average gross salary in Spain.
But the figures are skewed by very high earners in both cases – mostly, the average monthly State pension in Spain ranges from about €620 to €1,200, depending upon region.
The 0.25% rise – which is all that has been applied for the past three years – also applies to non-contributory State pensions, which is a varying monthly sum of around €250.
Pensioners' associations and unions call both increases 'insufficient' and has accused the government of 'ignoring social dialogue'.
Spain's largest unions, the labourers' commission (CCOO) and general workers' union (UGT), had both called for pensions to go up by 1.2% in 2017 and the minimum wage for a full-time job to rise to €800.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com