Working in Spain: the minimum wage for 2026, and the basic rights in every job

The minimum wage in 2026

Royal Decree 126/2026 sets the minimum wage, salario mínimo interprofesional, for 2026 at €40.70 a day or €1,221 a month, for any activity, regardless of sex or age, with effect from 1 January 2026. It refers to the legal working day; part-time work is paid pro rata. Only money counts: payment in kind can never reduce the cash amount.

The annual figure is €17,094. That is fourteen payments of €1,221 — twelve monthly salaries plus the two extra payments every worker is entitled to — and it is the figure a salary is compared with when checking whether it meets the minimum. A job advertised at a higher monthly figure paid in twelve instalments may still be below it.

Temporary workers whose services to the same company do not exceed 120 days must be paid at least €57.82 per legal working day, which includes their share of Sundays, public holidays and the two extra payments. Domestic workers paid by the hour on an external basis must receive at least €9.55 for each hour actually worked, all items included.

Many sectors have collective agreements, convenios colectivos, that set higher wages. The minimum wage is the floor under all of them.

The contract

A contract of employment can be written or verbal, and one is presumed to exist whenever someone works within another's organisation in exchange for pay. But many contracts must be in writing: part-time, fixed-discontinuous, training and apprenticeship contracts, remote workers' contracts, and fixed-term contracts of more than four weeks, among others. If a contract that should be written is not, it is presumed to be permanent and full-time unless the employer proves otherwise. Either side can demand a written contract at any time, including during the job.

The employer must notify the public employment service of the contract within ten days of signing it.

The trial period

A trial period, periodo de prueba, must be agreed in writing, and its maximum length is set by the collective agreement. Without one, it cannot exceed six months for qualified technicians or two months for other workers — three months in companies with fewer than 25 workers. For fixed-term contracts of up to six months, it cannot exceed one month unless the collective agreement says otherwise.

During the trial period either side can end the contract without notice or compensation, but in every other respect you have the rights of any employee. A trial period is void if you have already done the same job for that company before. And ending it because of pregnancy is void.

Hours and holidays

The maximum ordinary working week is 40 hours of actual work, averaged over the year. Collective agreements or agreements with workers' representatives can distribute hours irregularly across the year; without one, the employer can distribute up to 10% of the working time irregularly, with at least five days' notice of the resulting day and time.

Paid annual holiday is whatever the collective agreement or contract says, but never less than 30 calendar days, and it cannot be replaced by money while the contract lasts. Dates are agreed between employer and worker; you must know your dates at least two months in advance. If you cannot agree, the labour courts set them.

The two extra payments

Every worker is entitled to two extra payments a year, gratificaciones extraordinarias: one at Christmas and the other in the month set by the collective agreement or by agreement with workers' representatives. Their amount is set by the collective agreement. The agreement can also spread them across the twelve monthly payslips, which is why some payslips are higher and show no separate extra payments.

When the job ends

When a fixed-term contract ends on its date, the worker is entitled to compensation of twelve days' salary per year of service, pro rata, except for training contracts and contracts to replace an absent worker. When you resign, you give the notice set by the collective agreement or local custom.

A dismissal for the objective causes listed in the Statute requires written notice stating the cause, compensation of twenty days' salary per year worked with a maximum of twelve months' pay, made available at the same time as the notice, and fifteen days' notice. During that notice period you are entitled to six hours a week of paid leave to look for a new job.

If a court declares a dismissal unfair, improcedente, the employer chooses within five days between taking you back — paying the wages you lost in the meantime — or paying compensation of thirty-three days' salary per year of service, up to a maximum of twenty-four months' pay.

Every termination must come with a proposed settlement, finiquito, of the amounts owed: salary to date, unused holiday, the pro rata extra payments. Check it against your payslips and contract before you sign it.

If your right to work comes from a permit

None of the rights above depends on nationality. A worker on a first work permit has the same minimum wage, holidays and dismissal compensation as a Spanish colleague. What the permit adds is its own conditions — the occupation or area it covers, and the renewal rules — which are set out on each permit's page.