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Spain may have one of the highest minimum wages in the European Union, but workers on the SMI have seen one of the smallest increases this year.
The Spanish Government increased the salario mínimo interprofesional (SMI) by 3.1% in 2026, bringing the minimum to €1,425 gross a month paid over 12 payments.
That sounds like a decent increase on paper, but the latest figures from Eurofound put Spain near the bottom of the EU table. Of the 22 countries with a national minimum wage, only France and Luxembourg increased theirs by less this year.
France's minimum wage went up by just 1.2%, while Luxembourg increased its rate by 2.5%.
At the other end of the scale, Hungary recorded the biggest increase at 18.6%, followed by Slovenia at 16%. Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania also raised their minimum wages by more than 10%.
There is an important difference, though. Several of the countries making the biggest increases still have minimum wages well below Spain's.
At €1,425 a month, Spain has the eighth highest minimum wage among the 22 EU countries included in the Eurofound figures.
In Spain, however, the SMI is normally paid in 14 instalments, including two extra payments during the year. On that basis, the 2026 minimum wage is €1,221 gross per month, before tax and other deductions. The annual total is the same, €17,094, but the way it is paid makes the monthly figure look different.
Of the seven countries with higher rates, however, five increased their minimum wages by more than Spain this year. Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Slovenia all recorded larger rises.
Spain's position also looks better when a longer period is considered. Over the past ten years, the country's minimum wage has increased by more than 40% in real terms, putting Spain 10th among EU countries for real growth.
That rise has made the SMI increasingly important for workers in Spain. In 2015, just over 4% of workers were earning the minimum wage. By 2023, that figure had reached 10%, giving Spain the fourth-highest proportion in the EU.
Only Portugal, Slovakia and Poland had a larger share of workers on the minimum wage.
The figures also show that Spanish workers on the SMI currently face relatively little tax compared with their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. Spain does not apply income tax to the minimum wage, with workers mainly paying social security contributions. Only Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg have a lower tax and contribution burden.
There is, however, another side to the figures. Eurofound classifies Spain among the countries where recent minimum wage increases have produced only a small gain in purchasing power.
Even with the substantial increases seen over the longer term, the report shows that the minimum wage has been rising faster than wages generally. By 2024, Spain's SMI was equivalent to around 50% of the median salary, putting it among the EU countries where the minimum wage comes closest to typical earnings.
A rising minimum wage doesn't automatically mean that everyone else gets a pay rise too. Workers earning above the SMI can find their salaries staying much the same while the legal minimum catches up with them. For someone with years of experience or greater responsibility, that can gradually make the difference between their salary and the minimum surprisingly small.
That creates a strange situation for some workers. The legal minimum is going up, but their own salary can stay almost where it was. Experience, qualifications or years with the same employer don't necessarily translate into a bigger gap between their pay and the minimum wage.
And then there is the question of how much of the legal minimum actually makes it into workers' pockets. The SMI is a legal requirement, but Spain continues to deal with other forms of wage and working-time irregularities. Labour Inspection detected more than 14,700 infringements related to working time in 2025, affecting around 252,500 workers.
That doesn't mean those figures relate specifically to employers failing to pay the SMI, but they do highlight a broader problem. Having employment rules in place and making sure every worker receives what they are legally entitled to are two different things.
The numbers tell us that the minimum wage has moved upwards considerably. They don't necessarily tell us that Spanish workers across the wage scale are feeling better off.
Read also:Electricity Bills In Spain Hit Highest August Level Since Ukraine War Energy Crisis
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