Spanish government freezes minimum wage

Mariano Rajoy’s right-wing government in Spain has decided to freeze the national wage at its current level of €645.30 a month for 2014. This follows its decision not to increase the minimum wage in 2012 and to increase it only by 0.6% in 2013.

The freeze in 2012 was the first time that the minimum wage had not risen since 1966. In a joint letter to the ministry of labour, the two main union confederations, CCOO and UGT, condemned the failure to increase the rate.

Although inflation is currently only 0.3% (December 2013), they point out that freezes and below-inflation rises in the past mean that the national minimum wage has lost 5.5% of its purchasing power in the last four years.

€1 was worth 82p on 22 January.