SPAIN'S minimum wage is set to go up again by next year as part of a longer-term plan to bring it to 60% of the national mean average salary, in accordance with European Union guidelines.
Since the turn of the century and up to socialist president Pedro Sánchez's winning the elections in 2019, the minimum pay for a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job had been between just under €600 and €700, reaching €735 a month by the time Sánchez took up office.
This is based upon 14 monthly pay packets per year, in line with a largely-diminishing tradition of giving workers a double salary in August and at Christmas – nowadays only really observed in the public sector and for State pensions.
By the end of 2021, the minimum wage under Pedro Sánchez had risen to €965 a month over 14 months, or €13,510 per year.
This, for employees who get 12 monthly wage packets per year, would equate to a take-home of approximately €1,054.30.
In February 2022, the coalition government – run by the PSOE or socialists and its left-wing independent partners Unidas Podemos – agreed for the minimum wage to rise to €1,000 a month in 14 payments, giving a total gross annual salary of €14,000.
This would result in 12 monthly take-home salaries of approximately €1,092.60.
Sánchez says the minimum salary will be reviewed 'this autumn' and is likely to rise by 2023, the final year of his current tenure.
European Social Charter: Minimum wage not lower than 60% of average salary
Whilst not mandatory at present, the European Commission strongly advises member States to set their minimum wages at a figure not less than 60% of the national average individual income – even though this does not always reflect what the 'standard' earnings of a country are, since very high earners will always skew the figures.
This recommendation falls within the European Social Charter, drawn up in the aftermath of the continent-wide recession that led to widespread unemployment and poverty a decade or so ago.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com