Minimum wage in Portugal to rise to €920 in 2026

It’s now official. The national minimum wage will rise by €50 to €920 from 1 January 2026, according to the decree-law published on Monday in Diário da República. The Portuguese Government is thus complying with the agreement signed in October 2024 as part of social dialogue.

“In implementation of the 2025-2028 agreement, which reflects the ambition of the XXV Constitutional Government and the social partners to make the country more prosperous, to provide fairer wages, decent working conditions and quality jobs, and continuing the policy of wage appreciation, this decree-law determines an increase in the guaranteed minimum monthly wage to €920, with effect from 1 January 2026”, the decree states.

In October 2024, Luís Montenegro’s government signed an agreement with the four business confederations and the General Workers’ Union (UGT) providing for annual increases of €50 in the minimum wage until 2028.

In September this year, the trade union led by Mário Mourão argued that the increase planned for 2026 should be revised, as had been done in previous years.

Initially, the Minister of Labour, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, neither opened nor closed the door to this revision, but the Executive ended up including the €920 already planned in the State Budget for 2026, an amount that was ultimately approved by the Council of Ministers and enacted by the President of the Republic.

This update to the minimum wage also has an impact on multi-year public contracts, “in which the wage component indexed to the guaranteed minimum monthly wage was a determining factor in the formation of the contract price”.

This is the case for contracts for the procurement of cleaning services, security and human surveillance services, maintenance of buildings, facilities or equipment, and canteen services.