The minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) increases by 5% in 2024, up to 1,134 euros. This Wednesday, the vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, and the general secretaries of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, and CC.OO., Unai Sordo, signed the agreement for the increase, a consensus from which the CEOE has distanced itself.
The details and impact of the decision among employees are explained below.
It is an increase of 5%, reaching 1,134 euros per month for fourteen payments. That is, 54 euros more per pay. The SMI in 2023 stood at 1,080 euros
The increase will be applied to the payroll for this month of January. This Wednesday the agreement was signed and it is expected that next week’s Council of Ministers will approve a decree law with the increase with retroactive effect from the first day of this year.
There are slight differences in the calculation of beneficiaries. If the Ministry of Labor places it at 2.5 million workers, a study by CC.OO. sets it at 2.3 million.
According to this same study by the union, it will benefit 17% of women who work full time, while it remains only 10.6% of men in this situation.
If examined by sector, the main beneficiaries in absolute numbers are commerce and hospitality workers, more than half a million, although if the focus is on the relative incidence, then agriculture stands out, where it will affect 45.9%. of the total number of workers.
In many cases they also benefit. There are agreements in which the SMI is used as a reference to set a minimum remuneration. If this increases, other salary levels are also raised
Since 2018, the SMI has increased by 54%, going from the 735.9 euros at which it was set at that time to 1,134 euros this year. It has been increased each year in different amounts, with the aim of reaching 60% of the average salary, an objective already achieved according to the Government, although the unions set the translation of this percentage at 1,200 euros, so it would still be to below this goal.
Basically because a condition that had been placed as essential has not been taken into account: that the legislation be modified to be able to index the contracts signed with the public administration. Businessmen argue that they have to raise salaries, which form an important part of the total costs of these companies that work for the administration, without being able to pass on the increase. The Treasury has flatly refused to address the issue.
At a political level, the Ministry of Labor cannot reinforce the image of being a supporter of social dialogue, although it is true that increases in the SMI have almost always been carried out in recent years without the agreement of the CEOE.
Actually, this increase is the power of the Government, which only has to consult the social agents, and then decide on its own. The unions recognize that when the employers do not sign, there are more difficulties in practice to transfer the increase to the agreements, which although it is a legal obligation, in these cases they find less willingness on the part of the companies to carry it out.
