Spain to hike minimum monthly wage by 8%: PM Sanchez

02 Feb '23

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Spain would raise the minimum wage by 8 per cent this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently announced. The country’s lowest-paid full-time workers will earn a legal minimum of €1,080 ($1,172) per month in 14 payments per year. "Raising the minimum wage so that it’s 60 per cent of the average salary,” Sanchez said in the Senate during a debate.

The government’s ‘fight to improve working conditions’ and ‘more fairly distribute wealth’ is ‘just getting started’, he was quoted as saying by a newswire.

Since 2018, the country’s minimum wage has increased by 35 per cent from €735 euros per month. The unemployment rate has dropped to around 12 per cent—the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis.

Meanwhile, the country’s average monthly inflation hit 8.4 per cent last year. Pensioners also witnessed payment increases of 8.5 per cent to keep up their purchasing power.

The move will lead to a fairer distribution of wealth, argued Sanchez.

Representatives of Spain’s main business organisation CEOE, however, refused to show up at a meeting to discuss the minimum wage hike, accusing the government of not listening to their demands.

It argued that the minimum monthly wage should only increase by 4 per cent to €1,040 as inflation affects companies as well.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)

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