Spain’s minimum wage will be increased from the current €1,050 to €1,134 per month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) announced at a rally on Saturday.
Compared to the previous level of the minimum wage, the increase is 5 per cent and will be paid in 14 instalments, Sánchez said, adding that the measure will be approved in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, EFE news agency reported. Sánchez stressed at a rally of his party in Galicia organised on Saturday as part of a campaign to prepare for local elections:
“This is (…) what we socialists do, transforming the reality of citizens and governing for the social majority of our country.”
Raising the minimum wage would help strengthen the “social shield” that the progressive coalition government between Sánchez’s PSOE and Sumar’s left-wing platform seeks to reinforce to protect the most vulnerable, the prime minister added.
According to Sánchez, five and a half years ago, under the government of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (Popular Party, PP/EPP), Spain’s minimum wage was just €745 gross per month. However, in 2019, €745 is worth around €910 today when adjusted for inflation.
Fresh data from Spain’s state-run National Institute of Statistics (INE) showed Spain’s GDP grew by 2.5 per cent in 2023, a tenth more than expected, while eurozone GDP grew by just 0.5 per cent last year, according to Eurostat.
Sánchez also noted that Spain currently has one of the “lowest inflation rates (…) in Europe (3.1 per cent).”
