The government published yesterday, in the Official Journal of the Union, the decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva which readjusts the minimum wage for 2026.
The official adjustment defined was 6.79%. With this, the national floor goes from R$1,518 to R$1,621. The worker who earns the minimum wage will receive R$103. The same goes for retirees and INSS retirees who receive the minimum amount.
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But when does it come into force? The new minimum wage will be in effect from January 1, 2026 and will be paid from February. The minimum daily value will correspond to R$54.04 and the hourly value will be R$7.37.
In addition to workers who, by contract, receive a minimum wage, or multiples of this amount, the minimum wage serves as a reference for retirees, pensioners and beneficiaries of social programs, such as the Continuous Payment Benefit (BPC).
Why was the minimum wage set at R$1,621?
If only the constitutional rule, which provides for the correction of the minimum wage according to inflation, were valid, the national floor would rise from R$1,518 currently to something close to R$1,582 in 2026. The calculation takes into account inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) accumulated over 12 months until November, which was 4.18%.
Under the governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, the minimum wage was corrected in this way: only according to inflation, without any real increase in purchasing power. During Lula’s current mandate, the floor has again recorded gains above inflation.
This higher value is the result of the resumption of the policy of increasing the minimum wage, one of the president’s campaign promises, which provides for real adjustments linked to the performance of the economy.
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In 2023, Congress approved an interim measure sent by the government integrating this mechanism into legislation. According to the rule, the minimum adjustment combines the change in the INPC through November and the real growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from two years ago.
If the formula were fully applied, the minimum wage in 2026 would be corrected by inflation of 4.18% and GDP growth in 2024, of 3.4%, which would bring its value to approximately R$1,636.
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The final amount was lower than this amount because, in December last year, the government approved a law that limits the real gain of the minimum wage to 2.5% above inflation, in accordance with the rules of the budgetary framework.
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