Civil Servants' Average Base Pay Reaches 1,967 Euros, Up 5.6 Percent, but a Narrower Eurostat Gauge Shows Real Pay Barely Moving as Talks Resume Today

Average base pay in Portugal's public sector reached 1,967.40 euros a month in April 2026, 5.6 percent more than a year earlier, according to the latest quarterly figures from the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP). But a narrower Eurostat measure, reported by ECO this morning, shows gross reference pay in central government barely keeping pace with prices. The two readings land as unions and the government meet for a third round of 2027 pay talks at the Finance Ministry this Thursday afternoon.

What the official figures show

DGAEP's Síntese Estatística do Emprego Público (the quarterly statistical summary of public employment, published on 14 August) gives these numbers for the whole general government sector:

• Base pay: 1,967.40 euros a month for full-time workers in April, up 2.9 percent on January and 5.6 percent year on year.
• Average monthly earnings (ganho médio, which adds supplements, the meal allowance and overtime to base pay, before tax): 2,342 euros, up 5.5 percent year on year.
• Central government alone: base pay of 2,128.90 euros and earnings of 2,536.90 euros, up 5.6 and 5.3 percent.
• Headcount: 768,378 jobs on 30 June, 7,390 (1.0 percent) more than a year before. Women hold 63 percent of them.
• Retirements: 7,509 people left through retirement between January and June.

DGAEP attributes the rise to the higher national minimum wage (920 euros since January), the public sector's base pay reference rising to 934.99 euros, career-specific pay measures for groups such as doctors, nurses, tax staff and magistrates, and changes in who joins and leaves. On Eurostat's harmonised consumer price index, Portuguese inflation was 3.3 percent in April, so the average comfortably beat prices that month.

Why ECO reads it differently

An average can rise simply because better-paid staff join or lower-paid staff retire, so it is not the same as the raise an individual worker receives. ECO instead cites Eurostat's reference salary for Portuguese central government staff: between July 2025 and July 2026, gross pay on that measure rose 3 percent while prices rose 3.1 percent, a real fall of 0.1 percent. After the 2025 income tax (IRS) correction, net pay rose from 1,921 to 1,992 euros, a real gain of 0.6 percent, ECO reports. That sample leaves out teachers, doctors, the military, police and regional and local staff.

What it means for you

If you work for the state, the multi-year agreement signed with two union federations already sets a 2.3 percent rise for 2027, or a minimum of 60.52 euros, and a meal allowance up 15 cents to 6.30 euros a day, ECO notes. The Fesap and STE federations told ECO they hope the government improves that offer today; the Frente Comum, which is outside the agreement, has kept its strike. For what to expect at hospitals, schools and town halls on Friday 20 November, see our strike guide; for how the talks stalled last month, see our report on the October round.

DGAEP published its third-quarter summary in mid-November in each of the past three years, so figures for July should follow shortly.