The EU average wage is €2,000 with Portugal struggling to match half this amount among its poorly paid workers.
According to Eurostat data Portugal is in 18th place with an average wage of €1,000, behind even Greece and far from the average salary in Spain.
Bulgaria serves up the lowest wages in Europe and Denmark and Luxembourg have the highest.
Raising Portugal's national minimum wage would benefit especially those with jobs in hospitality and agriculture.
The Minister for Employment, Mota Soares, argues that any increase should be linked to productivity but did not commit to dates for updating the minimum wage for 400,000 workers, many of whom are trapped in a cycle of poverty with rising energy and water costs causing many to live off-grid in a state of poverty despite actually having jobs.
Real estate and the restaurant trade are home to the highest percentage of workers earning the minimum wage. The current rate is €485 per month in 14 payments for full-time workers, rural workers, and domestic employees aged 18 and older
The rise in the national minimum wage to €500 per month has been debated since 2006 and it should have risen by agreement six years ago in 2008 but the economy went into freefall oiffering a convenient excuse. The current €485 national minimum wage therefore has been in place since 2011.
The Confederation of Portuguese Industry, and unions, have called for a rethink now that the Troika has left town but yesterday’s ministerial comments gave no hope of a timetable for introducing any rise and served deliberately to add complications to something that should be simple.
Mota Soares maintains that the connection to productivity is the fairest way of fixing the minimum wage and he would not be pushed on when this might happen, or the mechanics of raising the rate as he is not going to do it before the next election.
After the minimum wage discussions yesterday, the secretary general of union CGTP, Armenian Carlos, said he was faced "with a farce" and "a handful of nothing. The Government is trying to delay the time to solve the problem, we want the day and month in 2014 that the Executive agrees to raise the minimum wage," he demanded.
The government does not want to raise the rate and will continue to obstruct unions which call for the poorest workers to earn another €50 a week, before any tax and social security costs are deducted. Why Mota Soares can not bring himself to say this may earn him gold stars from the PM but will not reduce the threat of industrial action.
