The data is from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and goes back to 1995. Portugal appears immediately in the list of the ten countries with the lowest average salary. In 25 years, there have been no comparative improvements. On the contrary, in 2020, the year of the most recent index, Portugal ranked sixth among 35 countries.
Since 2007, Mexico, one of the few foreign countries in the group of low-paid members, along with Chile, has been at the bottom of the OECD. The Mexican index has remained stagnant, between $16/17 thousand, while wages in some Eastern European countries, which started from a low base, have generally risen.
In the OECD indicators, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are the nine EU member states that, in 2000, had an average annual salary equal to or less than Portuguese. Slovenia has long moved away from the Portuguese index and currently Slovenes earn one and a half times as much as the Portuguese. In addition to Slovenia, four other countries in the group already have a higher average salary (see the chart with the development of the average salary).
Average annual salary *
in dollars
*OECD countries that are also member states of the European Union (22) and which, in 2000, had an average annual salary equal to or less than Portuguese (9). Purchasing power parity at fixed 2020 prices
The line graph representing the average salary in Portugal (in blue) shows that the indicator is practically unchanged from 2000 onwards. It has experienced significant fluctuations in the intervening years. The remaining member states, which started from a base similar to or below the Portuguese base, show clear upward curves, with only occasional regressions in the 2008 crisis. Greece is the negative exception: it overtook the Portuguese index in 2002, but had a sharper deviation between 2007 and 2013 and has not yet recovered.
half The average wage in Portugal increased by 20% Until the end of the legislature, the alignment of the share of salaries in GDP with the European average was included in the government’s program and was reaffirmed by the Prime Minister at the end of last week.
Average annual salary
The weight of wages and social contributions to GDP
*Countries OECD members who are also member states of the European Union (22 countries).
average wage In PPPs at constant prices for the year 2020. In dollars (OECD, 2020)
Weight in GDP Wages and social contributions as a percentage of GDP (Eurostat, 2021)
At the top of the list of countries with the highest average wages, with amounts 2.4 times more than Portuguese wages, are the United States, Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Average salaries in 2020 in dollars
* PPP at constant prices for the year 2020
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