Portugal is the country of the European Union (EU) with a minimum wage closer to the average wage, although it is the middle of the table in gross terms, according to data released by Eurostat.
According to the cabinet official EU statistics, which released a survey of the minimum salary in force from 1 January 2017 in 22 eu member States – Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not apply, Portugal is in the 12.Th place, with a salary of 650 euros (estimated by Eurostat taking into account the existence of 13.º and 14.No. months, the holiday allowances and christmas, now that the minimum wage is currently of 557 euro).
however, points to Eurostat, "the minimum wage can also be measured in relative terms or as a proportion of the monthly wage gross average", and among the member States for which there is data, only three countries had in 2014 a minimum wage of more than 60% of the average gross wage, in particular Portugal (64%), France and Slovenia (both 62%).
With the rise in the minimum wage from 530 to 557 € 01 January the past, Portugal is included in the second group defined by Eurostat, with values between 500 and 1,000 euros, along with Greece (684 euros), Malta (736), Slovenia (805) and Spain (826).
The countries with higher minimum wages are Luxembourg (1.999 euro), Ireland (1.563), the Netherlands (1.552), Belgium (1.532), Germany, (1.498), France (1.480) and the United Kingdom (1.397).
from the opposite side, the States with the lowest minimum wages are Bulgaria (235 euros) and Romania (275 euros), Latvia and Lithuania (380 euros).
The Eurostat note that, expressed in terms of purchasing power – a method that takes into account final consumption expenditure of households, to convert the minimum monthly wages in euro in an artificial unit -the minimum wages practiced are not so disparate among member States, ranging from 501 euros in Bulgaria and the 1.659 euros in Luxembourg, arising Portugal on the 13.Th place among the 22 member States with a value of 793 euros.
finally, in the analysis of the evolution of the value of the minimum salaries in the EU between 2008 and 2017, Eurostat note that only went down in one country, Greece (-14%), having increased in all the rest, and in some cases to double (Bulgaria and Romania, where in 2008 were respectively 112 and 139 euros).
Portugal has registered an increase of 31%, among the 497 euro 2008 and the 650 euros from 2017 (with 13.º and 14.No month).
In the Government’s programme, it is foreseen that the minimum wage in Portugal to reach, in a phased manner, up to 600 euros a month – without considering the subsidies – during the present legislature.
