The national average salary will increase 10.1% between 2015 and 2022, while the minimum wage will rise 39.6%, making Portugal “a country of minimum wages”, concludes economist Eugénio Rosa.
Between 2015 and 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Labor cited in the economist’s study released today, the average salary will increase by 96 euros, to 1,048 euros, while the national minimum wage will rise by 200 euros, to 705 euros (according to the intention expressed by the Government) . The “wage distortion”, as the economist calls it, is determining that the national minimum wage (currently 665 euros) represents an increasing proportion of the average wage, having already reached 67.3% of the average wage.
“This fact is transforming Portugal into a country with minimum wages, as an increasing number of workers receive only that wage”, says the economist who is a consultant at the CGTP trade union centre.
According to Eugénio Rosa, “in recent years there has been a great political concern to increase the national minimum wage, neglecting to update the salaries of the most qualified workers, which is causing strong wage distortions in the country and transforming Portugal into a country in which more and more workers receive only the minimum wage or a very close remuneration”.
