Spain’s Labour Ministry and the country’s leading trade unions on Monday agreed to increase the minimum wage again, this time by a monthly €37, to €1,221 gross per month (14 payslips).
The minimum wage in Spain has risen again, increasing the income level of those earning the least and bringing it closer to the average worker’s income.
The new minimum wage is €37 per month or €518 per year higher than the amount in effect in 2025.
Therefore, the new minimum wage in Spain for 2026 is €1,221 gross per month, or €17,094 gross per year.
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The €37 monthly increase applies to those being paid in 14 payslips per year – a common practice in Spain – one for every month plus one extra payment on in summer and another around Christmas.
Therefore, if calculated across 12 payslips rather than 14, the minimum wage monthly increase is €43.16, taking the minimum wage to €1,424.50 gross per month across 12 months.
The new SMI (Salario Mínimo Interprofesional) as it’s called in Spanish will be exempt from income tax (IRPF), a subject of contention following the last wage hike.
The agreement was reached between Spain’s second Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz and the general secretaries of leading trade unions CCOO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez.
The increase in the minimum wage, which will be applied retroactively from January 1st of this year, will benefit 2.5 million workers, according to the Ministry of Labour.
The hike does not require parliamentary approval from other parties, as opposed to other labour matters, and should therefore not face any obstacles when coming into force.
“This is the eighth increase in the minimum wage since we came to power,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said while celebrating the news.
“No other country has raised the minimum wage so much. It’s a conscious political decision that can be summarised as follows: work must allow people to live with dignity.”
It is the sixth consecutive year that Yolanda Díaz has negotiated the minimum wage increase alone with the unions, without the participation of the CEOE and Cepyme business associations.
With this latest 3.1 percent increase in the minimum wage, Spain’s minimum salary for 2026 equates to €40.70 gross per day in general.
For temporary and seasonal workers, the minimum wage is set at €57.82 per legal working day, while domestic workers cannot be paid less than €9.55 per hour actually worked.
“Today, we are taking up the mantle of history, once again improving the lives of the working class in this country. I am very proud, Díaz said.
“This government is the government of working people, that is, of the social majority.
“We have put public policies at the service of those who live on their wages, those who fill commuter trains and the metro, those who don’t live off inheritances, and those who are self-made, because they are granddaughters, daughters, and mothers of working people.”
The Deputy PM also sent a message to employers to raise wages in Spain, given that there is still “a negative differential of 25 points with the average wages in Europe.”
