MADRID, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy is in favor of the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) in 2024 being around 4%, which would be the percentage increase agreed upon by unions and employers in the 2023-2025 collective bargaining agreement, according to sources. of the Department directed by Yolanda Díaz.

An increase of 4% would take the SMI from 1,080 euros per month for fourteen payments to 1,123.2 euros per month. In any case, for Labor, the floor for the increase in the minimum wage for 2024 is inflation.

The collective bargaining agreement signed by CCOO, UGT, CEOE and Cepyme in May of this year recommends salary increases of 3% for both 2024 and 2025, with a salary review clause that, in the event of deviation from inflation, could imply additional increases of up to 1% for each of the years of the agreement (2023-2025).

The Ministry of Labor likes this figure, already agreed upon by the social agents although within the framework of collective bargaining, as a starting point for the negotiation with unions and employers regarding the increase in the SMI, which will start this afternoon with a first meeting chaired by the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey.

The objective of the Department of Yolanda Díaz is that this minimum income, which is earned by around two million workers not covered by collective bargaining, does not lose purchasing power.

Taking into account that the average inflation for the period December 2022-November 2023 was 3.8%, 4% would meet the objective of not losing income power.

Labor's intention is to serve as a mediator between unions and employers to achieve a three-way agreement, which was not possible in recent years, since only union support was achieved.