Pre-tax wages increased in 35 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including Portugal, between 2024 and 2025, according to the latest data released by the international organisation.
The average wage rose in all OECD countries between 2024 and 2025 in nominal terms, and in 35 out of 38 countries in real terms. The report also states that real post-tax income for a single worker earning the average wage increased in 28 countries in real terms over the same period.
In Portugal, gross nominal wages increased by 4.9% last year, adjusting the country's average salary. Across the OECD, annual growth in these wages in 2025 ranged from 0.7% in Switzerland to 39.8% in Turkey.
Overall, changes in nominal wage levels across OECD countries outpaced inflation. In Portugal, the annual change in real wages (before income tax and social security contributions) was 2.6%.
A total of 21 countries recorded real wage growth of up to two percentage points in 2025, while another 14 countries saw increases of more than two percentage points.
“In ten OECD countries, the real post-tax income of a single worker without children earning the average wage was lower in 2025 than in 2024, either because the average tax rate increased or remained unchanged while real pre-tax wages declined, or because the average tax rate rose by more than real pre-tax wages,” the organisation stated.
By contrast, real post-tax wages for this type of household increased in 28 countries in 2025, including Portugal.
The average tax rate on labour income decreased or remained unchanged while real pre-tax wages increased in Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States.
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