The minimum wage in 2026 should be R $ 1,630, with a nominal increase of 7.37%. The adjustment is contained in the project of the 2026 Budgetary Guidelines Law (PLDO), sent on Tuesday (15) to the National Congress.
Currently, the minimum wage is $ 1,518. The readjustment follows the projection of 4.76% for the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) for 12 months ending in November plus the 2.5% spending growth ceiling above inflationdetermined by the tax framework. The estimate for INPC also contains in PLDO.
The project also presented forecasts of R $ 1,724 for the minimum wage in 2027, from R $ 1,823 to 2028 and from R $ 1,925 to 2029. The projections are preliminary and will be reviewed in the PLDO of the coming years.
By 2023, the minimum wage was again corrected by the previous year’s INPC plus GDP growth, sum of the wealth produced by the country, two years earlier. This formula prevailed from 2006 to 2019. By this rule, the minimum wage would increase 3.4% above the INPC.
THE spending cutting package last year, however, limited the growth. This is because the minimum wage has entered the limits of the tax framework, which foresees real growth (above inflation) of spending between 0.6% and 2.5%. Thus, a lock was created that reduced real growth from 3.4% to 2.5%.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, each increase of $ 1 in the minimum wage has an impact of approximately $ 400 million on the budget. This is because the benefits of social security, salary allowance, unemployment insurance, continued benefit (BPC) and several expenses are linked to the variation of the minimum. In Social Security, the account considers an increase of R $ 115.3 billion in expenses and gains of R $ 71.2 billion in the collection.
