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Working in Portugal – the €920 minimum wage, contracts, 22 days' holiday, unions and qualifications

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

Portugal's minimum wage is €920 a month in 2026, unemployment is at a record low and 22 working days' holiday is the legal floor. Here is what your contract must say, how probation, overtime and notice work, how unions and collective agreements reach you, and how to get a foreign qualification recognised.

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Working in Portugal in 2026 means joining a labour market in unusually good shape, under one national rulebook. In the second quarter of 2026 employment reached 5,399.8 thousand people, the highest since 2011, and unemployment fell to 5.3 per cent, the lowest since the series began; 21.3 per cent of the employed worked from home. The Código do Trabalho (Labour Code) sets pay floors, holidays, probation and notice nationally; only your sector's collective agreement varies.

The news: the minimum wage rose 5.7 per cent to €920 on 1 January 2026 (Decreto-Lei 139/2025). Since 11 September 2026 (Lei 62/2026) a non-EU worker with a residence permit can change employer by notifying AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo – the immigration agency), which must decide a permit application within 90 days, extendable by 30 – though AIMA's pages had not been updated on 24 September 2026. The general job-seeker visa was abolished on 23 October 2025, and its 'skilled' successor was still unavailable.

What is the minimum wage in Portugal in 2026, and what do people actually earn?

The retribuição mínima mensal garantida (guaranteed minimum monthly pay) is €920 for 2026, fixed by Decreto-Lei 139/2025 of 29 December 2025, after €870 in 2025. Because employees also receive a holiday subsidy and a Christmas subsidy equal to a month's pay, the state counts 14 payments a year: 14 times €920 is €12,880, which is also the mínimo de existência – the income at or below which an employee pays no IRS (income tax). Average pay is well above that: INE puts gross monthly earnings per job at €1,835 in the quarter to June 2026 (+5.1 per cent) – a mean, not a median.

WhereAverage gross monthly earnings, June 2026
Agriculture, forestry and fishing€1,180
Electricity and gas supply€3,896
Firms with 1 to 4 workers€1,174
Firms with 500 or more workers€2,254
Public administration€2,792
Private sector€1,654
All jobs€1,835 total; base pay €1,342
Minimum wage€920 in 2026; €870 in 2025; €820 in 2024

Source: INE (Statistics Portugal) and DGERT, read 24 September 2026.

Your own deduction is 11 per cent of gross pay to Segurança Social (social security), withheld by the employer, who adds 23.75 per cent and registers you; the meal allowance is exempt up to €6.15 a day, or €10.46 on a meal card. The IAS (indexante dos apoios sociais – social support index), the yardstick for most benefits, is €537.13 in 2026.

What must your employment contract say?

A contract with a foreign or stateless worker must be in writing, in duplicate with one copy for you, and state your work visa or residence title, the activity and pay, the place and normal working hours and the dates (art. 5); this does not apply to EEA nationals. Whatever your nationality, the employer must give you written information on the place of work, category, start date, duration, holidays, notice periods, pay, hours, the work-accident insurance policy and the applicable collective agreement. If Anna Andersson starts as an accountant on an open-ended contract, her probation is 90 days; as finance director, 240.

RuleWhat the Labour Code says
Probation, open-ended contract90 days for most workers; 180 for complex or trust posts, first-job seekers and the long-term unemployed; 240 for managers (art. 112)
Probation, fixed-term contract30 days if the contract is six months or longer, 15 days if shorter
Fixed-term contract (termo certo)At most two years, renewable up to twice (art. 148); uncertain-term (termo incerto) at most four years, then compensation is due
Working time8 hours a day and 40 a week; collective agreements may reduce this without cutting pay (art. 203)
OvertimeUp to 100 hours a year: +25 % for the first hour, +37.5 % after, +50 % on rest days and holidays; beyond 100 hours: +50 %, +75 %, +100 % (art. 268)
Resigning without cause30 days' written notice with up to two years' service, 60 days with more; fixed-term 30 or 15 days (art. 400)

Source: Código do Trabalho, consolidated text of the Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, and ePortugal, read 24 September 2026.

Holidays, the two subsidies and the 13 public holidays

Annual paid holiday is at least 22 working days (art. 238); in the year you are hired you earn two working days per month, up to 20, which you can take after six complete months. Holiday pay comes with the subsídio de férias (holiday subsidy, art. 264); the subsídio de Natal (Christmas subsidy), a month's pay, is due by 15 December, pro rata in your first year (art. 263). The 13 mandatory public holidays are 1 January, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, 25 April, 1 May, Corpus Christi, 10 June, 15 August, 5 October, 1 November, and 1, 8 and 25 December (art. 234).

Unions and collective agreements in Portugal

You may form a union or join one representing your category, but not two for the same profession, and you can leave with 30 days' written notice (arts. 440 and 444). A collective agreement binds the employers that sign it or belong to a signatory association and the workers who are members of a signatory union (art. 496), but the Government can extend it to a whole sector by portaria de extensão (art. 514). Agreements are published by DGERT (the employment and labour-relations directorate) in the Boletim do Trabalho e Emprego. Foreign workers have the same rights and duties as Portuguese nationals; problems at work go to ACT (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho – the labour inspectorate) on 300 069 300.

Who can work, and how do you get a qualification recognised?

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens simply work, registering at the câmara municipal (town hall) for the CRUE (certificado de registo de cidadão da União Europeia) after three months. A non-EU national needs a residence title giving access to employment: the residency visa for subordinate work requires a contract or promise of contract lodged with the visa application, and the permit itself (art. 88 of the Foreigners Law) requires a contract under Portuguese law and social-security registration. Students with a residence permit may work alongside their studies. Part 2 covers every permit.

Regulated professions come first. If you qualified in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, the competent authority for your profession – the Ordem dos Farmacêuticos for pharmacists, say – must recognise your qualification before you work; DGERT coordinates, and it takes one to four months (Lei 9/2009). Qualifications from outside the EU go directly to the profession's authority, which may impose an adaptation period or aptitude test. Academic recognition of a degree is separate: since 1 January 2019 (Decreto-Lei 66/2018) DGES offers automatic, level and specific recognition – the automatic route costs €32.20 and takes up to 30 working days from a complete application, the others up to 90.

IEFP (Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional – the public employment service) registers job-seekers online through iefponline, with the Chave Móvel Digital login, or in person: you must be 16 or over, available to work, with a valid ID – for non-EU citizens a document allowing residence and work. Registration opens job offers, nine-month internships and training, and is required before claiming unemployment benefit, which needs 360 days of registered earnings in the previous 24 months and a claim within 90 days (part 9). IEFP's contact centre: 215 803 555, weekdays 9h–19h.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Confirm your right to work: CRUE (EU) or a residence title giving access to employmentBefore you start
2Get a NIF and the NISS – your employer can request the NISS once the contract is signedBefore the first payday
3Check the contract against the table above; ask which collective agreement appliesBefore signing
4Regulated profession: file for recognitionAllow one to four months
5Foreign degree: apply to DGES (€32.20 automatic route)Up to 30 working days
6Register with IEFP if you are looking for workAs soon as you may work
7Aged 35 or under: tell your employer your IRS Jovem year (part 7)Before the first salary

Source: IEFP, DGES, DGERT and Segurança Social, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.