New minimum wage in Uruguay, additional increase will be in July 2026
The National Minimum Wage increased by 4.1% since January 1, 2026. A new increase is stipulated for July of this year, reported the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
With the beginning of 2026, the new National Minimum Wage also came into force in Uruguay on Thursday, January 1, 2026, which entails an increase of 4.1% for workers who receive the minimum wage in the country. In addition, the government reported what increase in the minimum wage is expected for July 2026, which will apply until the end of this new year.
As reported by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) in a statement, the new value of the minimum wage decreed by the Executive Branch is $24,572. In turn, he confirmed that the increase in the minimum wage will be implemented in two periods, according to the decree issued on December 26, 2025.
According to the decree, the government considers that “it is considered timely and convenient to grant an increase in the National Minimum Wage equivalent to 7.54% (seven and fifty-four percent) of the total annual amount to be granted in two periods of the year.”
HOW MUCH WILL THE MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE IN JULY 2026?
That same decree establishes that, as of July 1, 2026, an additional increase of 3.3% will be applied to the minimum wage. That is the second increase that needs to be made this year to reach the stipulated 7.54%.
In this way, the minimum wage increases in this way for day laborers or those who receive the minimum wage per hour:
January 1, 2026: the National Minimum Wage is set at $24,572, or its equivalent resulting from dividing said amount by 25 to determine the daily wage, or by 200 to determine the hourly wage.
July 1, 2026: the National Minimum Wage is set at $25,383, or its equivalent resulting from dividing said amount by 25 to determine the daily wage, or by 200 to determine the hourly wage.
As declared in December 2025 by Marcela Barrios, the national director of Labor, this increase is “a qualitative leap” for the most submerged salaries, in the context of a “quite controlled inflation” that is projected at around 4%. He compared this to the previous increase, “around 6% with high inflation.”
