Salaries and inflation tied in 2023. In other words, salaries managed to keep pace with prices that already began to be tamed over the course of last year. Data from the Ministry of Labor show that the increase in salaries agreed in agreements and applied in 2023 has been 3.46%; which means maintaining the same rhythm as prices, given that the average inflation last year was 3.5%. The purchasing power of salaries is therefore maintained in 2023. Another thing is if we go further back in time, and include the inflationary ceiling of 8.4% in 2022; then there is still a loss of purchasing power.
This 3.46% increase in salaries refers to all agreements in force last year, of which the vast majority were signed in previous years. If we focus on the new agreements, those that were signed in 2023, then the increase is 4.10%. It is a sign that the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC) signed by employers and unions last spring has demonstrated its effectiveness. It proposed a salary increase of 4% in 2023, so the objective has been achieved almost mathematically.
These data are provided by the statistics on collective agreements that the Ministry of Labor published this Wednesday and which includes data for last year as a whole. If it serves as a barometer to judge whether collective bargaining has worked, the answer is yes. The recommendation established by the agreement between unions and employers has been followed at least in its first year, in which the objective was a salary increase of 4%. In the next two years, the AENC proposes increases of 3% in both 2024 and 2025. It is an agreement that has made it possible to maintain social peace and open the way to recover part of the lost purchasing power at a time when inflation It was already beginning to be controlled, and without causing the feared second round effects.
In total, the agreements in application in 2023 were 3,512, which affected more than one million companies and almost eleven million workers. Of them, two thirds were signed in previous years, although they were applicable last year, while those that were registered in 2023 were 1,146, with an impact on 400,000 companies and 3.6 million workers.
In any case, these data refer only to workers with salaries subject to agreements, which are not all. It is a good reference, especially if they follow the trend set by the agreements of the social agents regarding salary increases, but there are a number of workers, both self-employed and those who have contracts outside of agreements, who are not included.
Another piece of information provided by the Ministry of Labor statistics is that the majority of agreements registered in 2023 do not have a salary review clause, as an emergency mechanism to avoid losses of purchasing power. Of the 3,512 agreements, only 518 have this clause. If we examine the number of workers, of 10.9 million employees, those who have this clause are limited to 8.3 million.