There are 800,000 workers in Portugal on the National Minimum Wage which rises today to €580 a month and is planned to go up again in 2019, to €600.
The president signed off the December 22nd government decree that increases the National Minimum Wage for 2018.
The amount was laid out in the Government's general programme and was not a result of any agreements with unions which wanted the €600 rate to start now, not in 2019.
The decree-law is aimed at satisfying the "just and pressing aspirations of the working classes and boosting economic activity."