The Ministry of Labor closed an agreement this Thursday with the unions and without the employers to raise the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) by 3.1% this year, until it reaches 1,221 gross euros per month in 14 payments and remains without paying personal income tax. Despite the Government’s attempt to attract employers to an agreement with tax aidbusiness organizations have rejected the measure, amidst harsh criticismand also the rise of the SMI.
The interprofessional minimum wage, now at 1,184 gross euros per month, will therefore increase by 37 euros per month in 2026. “518 euros more per year,” highlighted the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey. The department headed by Yolanda Diaz estimates that the salary improvement will reach around 2.5 million workers.
With this increase, the Government accumulates minimum wage increases of a total of almost 66% since 2018, when Pedro Sánchez arrived at Moncloa.
The 3.1% increase proposed by Yolanda Díaz’s department was the lowest recommended by the committee of experts that advises the Ministry of Labor for increases in the SMI, designed for the scenario in which the workers who collect it continue without paying personal income tax, as the Ministry of Finance has ultimately decided.
The increase seeks to compensate for the increase in prices (with the inflation data from last October), to thus guarantee the purchasing power of workers who earn this legal minimum. According to experts, the increase in 2026 will place the minimum wage somewhat above the goal committed by the Government (that the SMI reaches 60% of the average salary)
The unions CCOO and UGT had demanded an increase of 7.5% and that it be taxed for the first timey businessmen, an increase of 1.5%like that of the officials for this year.
Pact so that the bonuses are not absorbed
The Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, has also announced that the agreement with the unions includes the commitment of the Ministry of Yolanda Díaz to “carry out” a reform so that companies cannot absorb (reduce) salary supplements due to the increase in the minimum wage.
The unions requested this condition to support the increase in the SMI this year, since they denounce that there are many workers, with earnings very close to the minimum wage, who are not reached by the increases that are approved because employers compensate them with the de facto reduction of these bonuses, a practice that has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
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