This Wednesday, the Government approved, in the Council of Ministers, the diploma that increases the national minimum wage (SMN) by 50 euros in 2026, from the current 870 to 920 euros.
At a press conference at Palácio da Vila, in Sintra, António Leitão Amaro said that this is a “significant increase”: “in a year and a half, with Luís Montenegro as prime minister, the minimum wage rose by 100 euros. It is part of a policy to increase the income of the Portuguese sustained by a unique moment in the national economy”, said the official.
The measure implements the value foreseen in the State Budget proposal for 2026 and results from the tripartite income agreement signed in October 2024 between the previous Government, the UGT and the employer confederations, which foresees annual increases of 50 euros until 2028.
According to this agreement, the minimum wage is expected to rise to 970 euros in 2027 and to 1,020 euros in 2028.
The minimum wage once again became a central topic of political debate on the eve of the general strike. Last Saturday, the prime minister and president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, set the country’s objective to be a minimum wage of 1,600 euros and an average wage of 3,000 euros, increasing the values he had mentioned the day before.
The Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, meanwhile clarified that the target of 1,600 euros constitutes a long-term ambition and not a promise, refusing to set a timetable for its achievement.