The government published yesterday, in the Official Gazette of the Union, the decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that 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 INSS retirees and pensioners who receive the minimum amount.
But when does it come into effect? The new minimum wage will be in force 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.
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In addition to workers who, by contract, receive a minimum wage, or multiples of that 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 by inflation, were valid, the national floor would rise from the current R$1,518 to something close to R$1,582 in 2026. The calculation considers inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) accumulated in 12 months until November, which was 4.18%.
During the governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, the minimum wage was corrected in this way: only for inflation, without a real increase in purchasing power. During Lula’s current term, the floor once again registered 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 economy’s performance.
In 2023, Congress approved a provisional measure sent by the government that incorporated this mechanism into legislation. According to the rule, the minimum adjustment combines the INPC variation until November and the real growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from two years before.
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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 the value to around R$1,636.
The final amount was below this because, in December last year, the government approved a law that limits the real gain from the minimum wage to 2.5% above inflation, in line with the rules of the fiscal framework.
