The troika may have left in 2014, but Portugal’s wage earners are no better off now than they were then – nor indeed have salaries shown any significant increase for the last three years.
Ministry of Work data has simply put up what everyone receiving a wage packet for the last three years already knows. Base salaries have barely grown.
In ‘exact terms’, the average monthly salary has risen 0.50 cents, writes Correio da Manhã – increasing from €950.40 to €950.90.
But many more people are now on the minimum national wage – which grew to €530 under the new PS-led government, despite protest from employers’ associations.
Data suggests 21.4% of the country earns the national minimum wage, while figures for the hotel/restaurant sector are even higher (29.9%).
Considering in 2005 only 5% of the country was on the national minimum wage, these figures speak volumes.
Labour minister Vieira da Silva has said the government means to review labour legislation, but under pressure from left-wing allies, he stresses changes “cannot be made from one day to the other”.
Elsewhere, numbers show young people – aged between 15 and 24 – make up 22.8% of the country’s workforce, while the over-55s make up 50.4%.
Women are signalled for having the lowest paid jobs and the most ‘job insecurity’, adds CM.
