The left-wing government of Spain will raise the minimum wage another 8%, despite the opposition of employers, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced on Tuesday, in a context marked by high inflation.
“We are going to approve a new increase in the minimum wage of 8% to reach 1,080 euros” gross per month for 14 months, the salary that is traditionally paid in 14 months in the country, announced the socialist Pedro Sánchez during a debate in the Senate. “We are thus respecting our commitment” to raise the minimum wage “to 60% of the average wage” by the end of the legislature at the end of 2023, he continued. Over 12 months, the minimum wage will become 1,260 euros gross.
The unions, who demanded 1,100 euros over 14 months, still expressed their satisfaction. This increase “will benefit 2.5 million people and will especially affect women, young people, people with fixed-term contracts or who work in the agricultural sector or in services,” Unai Sordo, general secretary of Commissions Ouvrieres, declared on Twitter. (CCOO), one of the two largest unions in the country.
36% increase since 2018
For their part, the businessmen refused to participate in the negotiations on Tuesday, claiming that their concerns were not taken into account. “They only have to give us the figure” of the increase for its approval, joked the president of the CEOE employers’ association, Antonio Garamendi.
This new increase in the minimum wage occurs in a context of high inflation, although the rise in prices has slowed significantly in recent months. Inflation thus stood at 5.8% in January, after reaching a maximum of 10.8% in July, a record since the start of the statistical series 38 years ago.
Pedro Sánchez, who wants to raise the Spanish minimum wage to the level of its European neighbours, stressed that this salary will have increased in total, after this new increase, by 36% since he came to power in 2018. It was then 735 euros and it was one one of the lowest in Europe. Spain will experience two major electoral events this year: the municipal and regional elections at the end of May and the legislative elections at the end of the year.
Source: BFM TV
