Average wages rose 3.8% in real terms to 1,602 euros in 2024

The average monthly total gross remuneration per worker grew by 6.3% in 2024, compared to 2023, to €1,602, but advanced by only 3.8% in real terms, Statistics Portugal (INE) announced on Friday.

In 2023, total remuneration had risen in both cases: 6.7 % in nominal terms and 2.5 % in real terms.

The variation in real terms is calculated by reference to the variation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Last year, regular gross monthly pay – which does not include holiday and Christmas bonuses and is therefore less seasonal – was €1,294, with a nominal and real increase of 6.4% and 3.9% respectively, compared to comparable increases of 6.6% and 2.2% in the previous year.

Also in the year under review, the gross basic monthly salary stood at €1,213 (a nominal increase of 6.2 % and a real increase of 3.7%, compared to increases of 6.8% and 2.4%, respectively, in 2023).

In 2024, the CPI had a positive variation of 2.4% and had been 4.3% in 2023.

Last year, total remuneration ranged from €3,420 in electricity, gas, steam, hot and cold water and cold air activities to €976 in agriculture, animal production, hunting, forestry and fishing activities.

Compared to 2023, INE points out that the largest relative increase occurred in human health and social support activities and the smallest in electricity, gas, steam, hot and cold water and cold air activities, with increases of 12.9% and 3.0% respectively.

In real terms, pay rose in all activities.

By company size, total pay ranged from €1,078 in companies with between one and four employees to €1,925 in companies with 500 or more employees.

The largest companies saw the biggest annual increase (7.3%), while the smallest (5.4%) were in companies with between 50 and 99 employees and companies with between 100 and 249 employees. Real total remuneration rose in all company size groups.

Analysing by institutional sector, total remuneration in Public Administrations (PA) rose by 7.5% in real terms between 2023 and 2024 (it had risen by 6.2% between 2022 and 2023) to 2,234 euros.

The increase in the public sector was even higher than that observed in the private sector, which saw a rise of 6.2% to €1,482.

Due to inflation, total remuneration grew by 4.9% in the public sector and 3.7% in the private sector in 2024, accelerating from 2.0% and 2.9%, respectively, in 2023.

These results cover 4.8 million jobs, corresponding to Social Security beneficiaries and Caixa Geral de Aposentações subscribers, 2.5% more than in the same period in 2023.

In a quarterly analysis, the average monthly gross total remuneration increased in all dimensions of analysis (economic activity, company size, institutional sector, technological intensity, and knowledge intensity) compared to December 2023.

INE pointed out that, in the last three months of the year and in year-on-year terms, the biggest increases were recorded in human health and social support activities (13.2%), companies with one to four employees (7.0%), the public sector (7.8%), andw-tech industrial companies (6.8%).

In the last quarter of 2024, the average monthly gross pay per employee rose 5.9% year-on-year to €1,777.

The regular and basic components increased by 6.5% and 6.1%, respectively, to €1,301 and €1,218. In real terms, the average monthly gross total remuneration grew by 3.2%, and its regular and basic components increased by 3.8% and 3.4%, respectively.