PROPERTY SEARCH
PROPERTY SEARCH
Spain increases minimum wage and considers shortening the working week
Minimum wage workers across Spain will receive 54 euros more in their monthly pay packet
The new year is off to a promising start for workers across Spain as the government and the unions have reached an agreement to raise the minimum wage by 5%, which will push it up to 1,134 euros gross per month over 14 payments.
These changes still have to be passed by the Council of Ministers though, something that won’t happen until the end of January or the beginning of February. But when the increase of 54 euros per month is implemented, it will benefit around 2.5 million employees in Spain, or one in seven staff members.
Alongside the pay boost are negotiations to reduce the working week, talks which are scheduled to begin in earnest on January 25. This particular measure is part of the pre-election agreement made between the PSOE and Sumar political parties and proposes dropping the legal weekly hours from the current 40 a maximum of 38.5 during 2024. This will be further reduced to 37 next year.
Given that the decrease in working time wouldn’t be reflected in a drop in salary, employers are naturally resistant and consider the measure to be little more than an “implicit increase in the minimum wage”. So fierce is their opposition that they even declined to take part in the salary discussions held earlier this week.
Of course, the ordinary worker is thrilled with this development which will shorten the working day without impacting their pocket.
The unions agree, insisting that “a modern economy needs to open up more time for workers’ personal lives”.
At the moment, the average employee in Spain works 40.4 hours, which is somewhere in the middle of the European ranking. Salaried staff in Greece have the longest working week, at 42.7 hours while Finland sits at the bottom of the table at just 38.7.
Also of interest: VAT on olive oil eliminated as prices reach all-time high in Spain
Image: Archive
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268
