Spain to Launch ‘Minimum Living Wage’ for Poorest in May
Spain’s government says it will pay tens of thousands of the country’s lowest-income households a “minimum living wage” starting in May, a campaign-trail promise that has been accelerated because of the massive job losses triggered by pandemic lockdowns.
A municipal cleaner sweeps a deserted platform at the Sant Antoni metro station in Barcelona, Spain, on April 14.
Photographer: Angel Garcia/BloombergSpain’s government says it will pay tens of thousands of the country’s lowest-income households a “minimum living wage” starting in May, a campaign-trail promise that has been accelerated because of the massive job losses triggered by pandemic lockdowns.
The Socialist-led government estimated the subsidy would be paid to at least one million households on a permanent basis starting in May. Madrid didn’t put a figure on the “minimum living wage.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his far-left coalition partners Podemos have pledged to put in place some kind of government subsidy to boost the living standards of the country’s most cash-strapped citizens. When Sanchez became premier in January, the two parties pledged to boost government spending to continue to fuel what had been several years of robust economic expansion.
“It’s a commitment by the government to those families and people who have serious difficulty to cover their basic expenses that the minimum living wage is underway in the month of May,” the government said in a statement Thursday.