Minimum Wage, Working Hours and Holidays in Portugal for Expats

The minimum monthly wage in Portugal is 920 euros gross for full-time work in 2026, and normal working time may not exceed 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Paid leave is at least 22 working days a year, and the ACT leaflet lists 13 mandatory public holidays.

This guide reads the official pages on these basics. It is not legal advice. We read them on 19 October 2026. The latest legal change among them is Decree-Law 139/2025 of 29 December 2025, which set the 2026 minimum wage, so that is the date this guide carries. The gov.pt guide we use was updated on 25 September 2026 and the DGERT page on 26 May 2026. If you are still looking for the job, start with the overview of working in Portugal as an American or a Briton.

What is the minimum wage in Portugal in 2026?

The DGERT, the state body for employment and labor relations, says Decree-Law 139/2025 was published on 29 December and set the guaranteed minimum monthly wage (retribuição mínima mensal garantida, RMMG) at 920 euros, with effect from 1 January 2026. Its table of past decrees shows the amount was 870 euros from 1 January 2025 (Decree-Law 112/2024 of 19 December) and 820 euros from 1 January 2024.

The ACT leaflet for foreign workers adds two things that matter in practice. The 920 euros is gross, and it is for full-time work. The employer deducts 11% for Social Security and may also have to withhold income tax, and the amount you receive appears on a payslip (recibo de vencimento) that is handed to you. How the deductions work for an employee is in our guide to the employee contract, Social Security and your rights.

gov.pt notes that pay can be more than a base amount. It can include other items in cash or in kind, such as health insurance or travel costs, and the in-kind part cannot exceed the cash part unless a collective agreement says otherwise. We did not find on these pages how the minimum wage applies to part-time work, to the Azores and Madeira, or to trainees, so check those with ACT if they apply to you.

For what the figure means for a budget, see the cost of living in Portugal.

How many hours can I be made to work?

Article 203 of the Labor Code, on the Diário da República, says normal working time cannot exceed eight hours a day and forty hours a week. gov.pt gives the same limits. The same article adds that collective agreements may lower these limits without lowering pay, and that a worker who works only on the rest days of most of the company’s staff can have the daily period raised by up to four hours.

The ACT leaflet gives more detail on the pattern:

• The maximum is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, spread over at most 6 working days.
• Other regimes can exist, with a maximum of 12 hours a day and 60 hours a week.
• Overtime (work outside the normal schedule) is compulsory except in some cases, and it is paid with a surcharge. The leaflet does not give the percentages.

gov.pt says your employer must tell you your normal daily and weekly working period. The list of what the contract must contain is in our guide to the employee contract.

What rest am I entitled to?

The ACT leaflet gives two minimums:

The consolidated Labor Code on Diário da República, read on 19 October 2026, says the same and adds detail:

• Break within the day (article 213): the daily working period must be interrupted by a rest break of not less than one hour and not more than two, so that you do not work more than five consecutive hours, or six if the daily period is over 10 hours. A collective agreement can change this.
• Daily rest (article 214): at least eleven consecutive hours between two daily working periods, with exceptions the article lists, such as employees in management or with a free schedule.
• Weekly rest (article 232): at least one day of rest a week. The mandatory rest day can be other than Sunday in the cases the article lists.

How many days of paid leave do I get?

gov.pt says each worker has the right, in each calendar year, to a period of paid leave that falls due on 1 January, with a minimum of 22 days a year. For leave purposes, working days are Monday to Friday except public holidays. If your rest days fall on weekdays, the Saturdays and Sundays that are not holidays count instead.

The first year is different:

• In the year you are hired you have 2 working days of leave for each month of the contract, up to 20 days.
• You can take those days after 6 full months of the contract.
• If the calendar year ends before you have 6 months, you can take the leave until 30 June of the next year, but not more than 30 working days of leave in that year unless a collective agreement allows it.

Leave is paid as if you were working, and you are also entitled to a holiday subsidy (subsídio de férias). The ACT leaflet says the holiday subsidy equals your monthly pay and is paid before you take the leave, and that the Christmas subsidy (subsídio de Natal), also equal to your pay, is paid by 15 December. Confirm in your contract how both subsidies are paid.

Which public holidays are mandatory?

The ACT leaflet lists these mandatory public holidays:

The Labor Code lists the same 13 days in article 234. It adds that Good Friday may be observed on another day with local significance in the Easter period. Article 235 allows other holidays, such as municipal ones, by collective agreement or by contract, which is why your own holiday calendar can differ.

The leaflet says work can be done on public holidays and is paid differently from a normal day. It does not say whether your employer can require it, so check your contract and any collective agreement.

What happens if I am sick or have to be absent?

The ACT leaflet says a worker may be absent for various reasons, which must be proven to the employer, and that the worker can lose the pay for the day. It says registration with Social Security, which the employer does when it reports the hire, gives protection including sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, help when wages are late, and parental support. A worker who has been absent through illness for more than 30 days is entitled to an occupational health exam before returning, according to the same leaflet.

gov.pt lists the sickness benefit (subsídio de doença) among its social support pages. We could not read the Social Security page that sets its conditions, such as the contribution record and the waiting days, so this guide gives no figures for it. Check the Social Security page for it before you rely on the benefit.

Where do I go if my pay or hours are wrong?

gov.pt names the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) as the body to contact for information or help. The phone line is 300 069 300 on working days from 9:00 to 12:30, and there is a digital counter on the ACT website. The leaflet says you can ask ACT for information and for the intervention of labor inspectors when a worker’s rights are breached.

If you work for yourself rather than for an employer, a different regime applies: see freelancing and the independent worker regime. If you still need the visa, see the work visa for employees.

Where do these figures come from?

More guides in this series: Social Security contributions and unemployment benefit for residents.

We read these pages on 19 October 2026: the DGERT page on the 2026 minimum wage (updated 26 May 2026) and its table of past amounts; the ACT leaflet “Trabalhar em Portugal” for foreign workers (the file shows no printed date, last modified January 2026); gov.pt’s guide on working in Portugal (updated 25 September 2026); and the consolidated Labor Code on diariodarepublica.pt, whose latest amendment listed is Law 32/2025 of 27 March 2025, from which we used article 203. We also opened Decree-Law 139/2025 on Diário da República: article 3 sets the minimum wage at 920 euros, article 2 limits it to mainland territory, and it takes effect on 1 January 2026. From the Labor Code we read articles 203, 213, 214, 232, 234 and 238.