Minimum wage country profile for Portugal

Information for this page was compiled during December 2025 and early 2026. Most Member States had already transposed the EU minimum wage directive at this point. Those that had not yet fully completed transposition or where the information was not yet publicly available include Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxemburg, Poland and Portugal. These profiles will be updated consecutively as the information becomes available. Users are invited to contact our experts on minimum wage if they are aware of changes.

These profiles describe how minimum wages are regulated and set. They are available for all EU countries and Norway.
Maria da Paz Campos Lima

This profile describes how minimum wages are regulated and set in Portugal. It can be read as background information for Eurofound’s annual review of minimum wage setting series. Portugal established the national statutory minimum wage (Retribuição Mínima Mensal Garantida, RMMG), almost generally applicable, since the 1974 democratic revolution. Until 1990, the level of the statutory minimum wage of workers in agriculture was below the general level. Since 1991, there is no differentiation between activity sectors.

The process of setting the statutory minimum wage follows the standard procedure established by the Labour Code (Law 7/2009, art. 273, paragraph 1), according to which the minimum wage level is set by the government by Decree Law after consulting the tripartite Commission of Social Concertation (CPCS). The outcome of such consultation is not strictly legally binding for the government, although in practice it is not likely that the government would substantially deviate from the results of the consultation.

After the exceptional freezing of mandatory minimum wage, in line with Troika Memorandum, in the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, by government unilateral decision, the process of consultation and annual update of the minimum wage level was restored. In the last 10 years, the consultation process within the CPCS led to tripartite agreements with specific focus on mandatory minimum wage increase (for the years 2015 and 2016) and led also to wider-range tripartite agreements including the update of minimum wage (for 2017, 2023 and 2024) in the framework of the wider-range tripartite agreements (CES, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023). On the other hand, the tripartite agreement 2016 (CES, 2016) established the goal of regular monitoring and evaluating the impact of minimum wage increase for the following years (GEP/MTSSS, 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2021).

Since 2022, the tripartite commitments include both the references for the increase of average wage guiding collective bargaining and for the increase of the minimum wage, which means that the latter considers the general wage increase. Moreover, the trajectories of average wage and minimum wage recovery foreseen in the tripartite agreements have been justified, since the tripartite agreement 2022, with the purpose of reducing poverty, combating inequality and increasing labour share, to reach the European average.

The Portuguese Constitution (art. 59, paragraph 2 a)) establishes the obligation of the state to set and update a mandatory national minimum wage considering, among other factors, the needs of workers, the increase in the cost of living, the level of development of production capacities, the requirements of economic and financial stability and accumulation for the development. According to the Labour Code (art. 273) the determination of the minimum wage must consider the needs of workers, the increase in the cost of living and the evolution of productivity, with a view to adapting to income and prices policy criteria.

The tripartite agreement 2016, and the following minimum wage annual updates also considered the impact of minimum wage concerning the evolution of competitiveness, economic growth, and employment, as well as the aim to combat poverty and social exclusion and reduce wage inequality (GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021). Since 2019, the government wage setting policy aimed at increasing the labour share to converge with the EU average – an issue postponed by the pandemic crisis – which was addressed by the tripartite agreement 2022 (Caldas, 2019).

Criterion

How is this defined/operationalised?

Regulation or practice

Developments of wages

Evolution of median and average hourly and monthly wage (base and gain).

Sources:

Personnel data mandatory Survey (Quadros de Pessoal, GEP/MTSSS);

Earnings and Working Duration Survey (Inquérito aos Ganhos e à Duração do Trabalho, IGDT/ GEP/MTSSS);

Monthly statement of workers' earnings by firms to Social Security (Declarações de Remunerações da Segurança Social, DRSS/Instituto de Informática da Segurança Social).

Labour Code (Article 273)

ILO Convention 131

Tripartite concertation

Productivity

Productivity rate

Sources: European Commission forecasts.

Portuguese Constitution

Labour Code (Article 273, paragraph 2)

Tripartite concertation

Inflation

Inflation rate (past and foreseen)

Sources: European Commission Forecasts; Statistics Portugal (INE), Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPC).

Portuguese Constitution

Labour Code (Article 273, paragraph 2)

ILO Convention 131

Tripartite concertation

Evolution of employment

Employment growth (in %) – European Commission forecasts; Statistics Portugal (INE), Labour Force Survey (Quarterly).

Government guidelines/tripartite concertation

Background and impact of minimum wage on employment evolution (GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).

Evolution of unemployment

Unemployment rate variation (in %) – European Commission forecasts; Statistics Portugal (INE), Labour Force Survey (Quarterly).

Government guidelines/tripartite concertation

Background and impact of minimum wage on unemployment (GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).

Economic growth

GDP growth rate (in % in real terms) – European Commission forecasts.

Statistics Portugal (INE), National Accounts (Quarterly)

Portuguese Constitution

Background and impact of minimum wage on economic developments

(GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).

Wage inequality

Gini coefficient; ratio S80/S20

Source: Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

Ratios S80/S20; S90/S10 and P90/P10, P90/P50 and P50/P10

Source: Earnings Declaration to Social Security (Declarações de Remunerações da Segurança Social, DRSS/Instituto de Informática da Segurança Social).

Since 2016 – Government guidelines/tripartite concertation

(GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).

Poverty

Employed persons at-risk-of poverty rate.

Source: Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

Poverty risk threshold, population at risk of poverty and social exclusion

Source: Statistics Portugal (INE)

Rate of low wage workers; low wages threshold (GEP/MTSSS).

Since 2016 – government guidelines and recommendations of tripartite agreements

(GEP/MTSSS, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).

Functional income distribution

Labour share (see sources for GDP and wages)

Guidelines of Tripartite Agreement 2022

There is no indicative reference value to guide the assessment of adequacy. The latest tripartite agreements (2022, 2023 and 2024) set the rate of increase of the minimum wage above the average wage rate increase, which is based on the rates of inflation and productivity. The aim has been to reduce poverty and inequality and increase labour share, to reach the European average. The Tripartite Agreement for 2025-2028 foresees an annual increase of monthly minimum wage by EUR 50, since 2025, with the aim to reach EUR 1,020 in 2028. For 2026 it foresees an increase of average wages by 4.7% to reach EUR 1,731 and a minimum wage increase by 5.7% to reach EUR 920 (see previous section).

The mandatory minimum wage is generally applicable. There are no exemptions. Workers cannot be paid lower than the minimum wage. Non-compliance with minimum wages is considered a very serious offence, and a fine can be imposed.

According to the Labour Code (Law 7/2009, art. 275) the mandatory minimum wage is reduced in the following cases: for assistants, apprentices and trainees in certified training, the amount is reduced by 20%, for a maximum period of one year; and workers with reduced work capacity (due to disability) have a reduction corresponding to the difference between full capacity for work and the coefficient of effective capacity for the work the worker was hired for, if the difference is above 10% up to a maximum limit of 50%. The certification of the effective capacity coefficient is carried out, at the request of the worker, job seeker or employer, by the public employment service or health services.

On the other hand, the workers in the Autonomous Region of Madeira and of the Autonomous Region of the Azores are entitled to regional supplements adding to the national minimum wage, a right resulting from the adaptations of the Labour Code 2009 by the legislative assemblies of these two regions, which determine annually its level having into consideration the costs of insularity of these territories (Assembleia da República, 2020).

The minimum wage rate is defined monthly and updated annually. According to the law, the monthly minimum wage is due for 14 monthly payments, as all employees are entitled to the Christmas bonus (a 13th monthly payment) and to the Holiday bonus (a 14th monthly payment, which is paid in addition to the remuneration for the holiday period).

According to the Labour Code (Law 7/2009, art. 274, paragraph 1) the amount of the mandatory minimum wage includes: the value of the benefit in kind, namely food or accommodation, owed to the workers in return for their normal work; the commissions concerning sales or productivity premium; and the regular bonus classified as remuneration (in accordance with Article 260). The value of the benefit in kind is calculated according to current prices in the region and cannot exceed the following amounts or percentages of the value of the monthly minimum wage (Article 274, paragraph 2): 35% for complete meals; 15% for food consisting of a main meal; 12% for worker accommodation; €27.36 per room for housing the worker and his family; 50% for total benefits in kind. The amount considered per room is updated by applying the housing rent update coefficient, whenever the value of the minimum wage is increased.

The amount of the minimum monthly wage does not include subsidies, premiums, bonus, or other benefits granted occasionally or for a period exceeding one month.

Component

Description

Value of benefit in kind

Food or accommodation, owed to the worker in return for their normal work

Regular premium

Commission for sales or productivity

Regular bonus

When considered remuneration

Between 2016 and 2021, the Strategy and Planning Office of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security published regular reports monitoring and evaluating the impact of the minimum wage. Since 2021, ongoing government restructuring and changes—along with discussions about minimum wage directive and the medium-term tripartite agreements since 2022 with focus not only on the minimum wage but also on overall wages and collective bargaining shifted the emphasis to comprehensive labour-market reporting rather than separate reports on specific themes, such as a standalone 'minimum wage report', which favoured information on this topic to be integrated within broader analyses of labour, income, and inequality.

Publication
Forthcoming

September 2026

Minimum wages in 2026: Annual review
This report will present the latest developments around national and collectively agreed minima and quantify the amount of minimum wage earners across EU27 countries and the material situation they find themselves in.
Read more about Minimum wages in 2026: Annual review
Publication

30 January 2026

Real growth in minimum wages in 2026, amid both progress and pullback on Member States’ ambitions
Most EU Member States changed the level of their national minimum wage from 1 January 2026 and, as in the previous year, the general picture is one of substantial increases – significantly exceeding price increases.
Read more about Real growth in minimum wages in 2026, amid both progress and pullback on Member States’ ambitions
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