The minimum wage increase for 2023 will be applied retrospectively from 1 January.

At a press conference to evaluate the first year of labor reform, Díaz said: Negotiations will be resumed for an interest rate hike. SMI “Probably already when the year starts” and did not want to announce any developments on the subject until the meetings were over.

And when asked if there was agreement with the socialist wing of the Government and with the first vice president Nadia Calviño on the specific figure that the Executive as a whole, Yolanda Díaz confined herself to commenting: Conversations about SMI “with the head of government”.

The government has included it in the royal economic measures decree this Tuesday approving the extension of the 2022 Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI) set at 1,000 euros per month to 2023 and expects the Ministry of Labor to agree with social agents on the figure for next year.

The royal decree was approved this Tuesday and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) this Wednesday. Extends the validity of the 2022 SMI until 2023 “for the period necessary to guarantee the continuity of the work of the dialogue table in search, one more year for an agreed increase in the inter-professional minimum wage”, according to the text of the regulation.

The manager understands for sure It guarantees the “effective participation” of social actors in the creation of the SMI in a “special challenge” social and economic context.Thus, the growth path of this variable in accordance with the commitments undertaken in the European and international arena has been given continuity.

However, given the anticipation of no agreement on 31 December, when the effects of the 2022 SMI expire, the Government confirms that there are “extraordinary and urgent necessity” reasons that make it “inevitable” to remain in effect as of January 1. (from 2023)”.

“In this way, the function of the interprofessional minimum wage to serve as a base or minimum wage guarantee for workers is provided with legal assurance and continuity,” the executive said in the decree.

Like this, 2022 SMI extended “temporarily” In the framework of social dialogue and taking into account the provisions of Article 27 of the Labor Law, until the decree determining the year 2023 is approved: consumer price index, national average productivity, increased labor force participation, national income and general economic situation.

Just this Wednesday, Finance Minister María Jesús Montero relied on “attempts to be made” to reach an agreement on the Interprofessional Minimum Wage in the first quarter of next year.

Experts and social mediators

The government has already put on the table the report of experts who made a recommendation. It varies between 4.6% and 8.2% for 2023and its review six months later to assess its adequacy in the context of hyperinflation.

CCOO wants to increase from the current 1,000 euros to 1,082 euros to 1,100 euros for fourteen paymentsThis means a percentage increase between 8.2% and 10%. UGT wants to increase the direct SMI to 1,100 euros and CEOE and Cepyme are offering a 4% increase up to 1,040 euros per month.

for now, The manager did not put any numbers on the table, the normal thing is that, as in 2022, it is driven by recommendations made by experts. Yolanda Díaz, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, is willing to agree with social intermediaries on the increase, although the CEOE is not willing to agree on an increase of more than 4%.

Adding business people will be difficult. Not only have they set conditions to increase the SMI by 4% in 2023, but they also consider relations with Labor to be broken after the Labor Code included a change that would allow the Labor Inspectorate to control the reasons companies alleged in the layoffs collective.

In any case, with or without an agreement with the unions or both parties, the increase in the 2023 SMI will be effective retroactively from 1 January of the following year.