Portuguese workers’ wages grow 2.3% above inflation

The Portuguese workers’ average grew above inflation in 2023 and led to a 2.3% gain, according to the data disclosed today by the Portuguese Statistics Office (INE). 

In 2023, the average gross monthly wages per worker increased 6.6% to 1,505 euros. Yet, as inflation (Consumer Price Index) was 4.3%, the real gains were 2.3%.

These wages increased on all scales of the analysis (economic activity, company size, institutional sector, technological intensity, and knowledge intensity). The greatest increases were seen in extraction industries, in companies with 1 to 4 workers, in the private sector, and in knowledge-intensive market service companies. 

The INE data on the fourth quarter of last year, also known yesterday, indicate a rise of 5.7% in total gross monthly wages per worker, that is, to 1,670 euros per month. In real terms, using as a reference the variation in the Consumer Price Index, average total gross monthly waves went by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. 

Rises above Agreement on Income

The gross monthly wage rise in 2023 (6,6%) was above the benchmark for wage increase of 5.1% set in the Mid-Term Agreement on Income, Wages, and Competitiveness Improvement signed in 2022 by the Government and social partners. 

Since 2015, the first data reported by INE, the overall average wages have gone up 27.7%, which represents real growth of 8.4%. In the private sector, the rise in average total gross monthly wages for the period was 31.8%, which represents a real growth of 12.0%