• Recommendation The OECD warns of the damage that the Minimum Wage has done to employment and calls for productivity to mark any increase

The Ministry of Labour will propose this afternoon to employers and unions an increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) of around 4%, which would take the SMI from the 1,080 euros in fourteen payments in which it currently stands to about 1,123 euros next year.

This has been pointed out by sources from the Ministry headed by Yolanda Díaz, who assure that this afternoon they will carry out an intermediation work between the two parties and that they see the agreement as feasible. The Ministry's priority at the moment is to move forward with this increase with a tripartite agreement, unlike what has happened in the last three increases.

The CEOE and Cepyme have proposed that the minimum wage be raised to 1,112 euros in 2024 (32 euros more), which represents an increase of 3% in line with what was agreed with unions in the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC). This increase, however, would only be supported by the organizations led by Antonio Garamendi and Gerardo Cuerva if the Executive agrees to repeal the Deindexation Law that prevents public contracts with companies from being updated if there is a sudden increase in costs such as the increase in the SMI.

UGT and CCOO, however, go much further. The union led by Pepe Álvarez once again defended this Wednesday that the Minimum Wage should rise to at least 1,200 euros in fourteen payments (120 euros more) so that it continues to comply with the equivalent of 60% of the average wage in Spain.

Unai Sordo's organisation, however, points to a 5% revaluation, which would bring the Minimum Wage to 1,134 euros, an increase of 54 euros.

In the midst of both positions (3% of the employers' association and 5% of the CCOO), sources from the Ministry of Labour recall that the social partners agreed in the AENC on a generic recommendation for a 3% wage increase, revisable by an additional point, up to 4% depending on inflation. That 4% could be the threshold used to raise the minimum wage, as it would allow the purchasing power of the lowest-earning employees to be maintained, given that average inflation this year will be around 3.6%.

Yesterday it was also known that pensions will rise next year by 3.8%, in line with the average inflation from December 2022 to November 2023, a figure that is also used by Labour to point to the floor increase for the SMI.

  • CCOO
  • Yolanda Diaz
  • Minimum Wage
  • Employment