How the legal minimum is built: the working-time cap, the two floors of article 11 and the two readings that overstate it
Effective working-time cap (art. 11.2.i)
26 h/week
Share of a full working week
65 %
Agreement floor (60 %)
€624.00
Minimum-wage floor, prorated
€793.65
The minimum that governs
€793.65
“60 % of the agreement”the common reading, and it overstates
€960.00
“At least the minimum wage”the common reading, and it overstates
€1,221.00
Agreement pay above which the percentage governsbelow it the minimum wage governs
€2,035.00
Here the agreement percentage does not reach the prorated minimum wage, so the minimum wage sets the floor and the 60 % or 75 % adds nothing.
Article 11.2.m) closes by saying pay cannot fall below the minimum wage “in proportion to effective working time”: a full minimum wage is not the floor of a contract that by law cannot be full time.
That minimum cannot be made up with overtime: article 11.2.k) forbids it except in a force-majeure case.
Indicative figures based on article 11 of the Workers' Statute and Order PJC/297/2026. This is not employment or financial advice.
2026 minimum wage €1,221.00 a month. Occupational-accident floor €1,424.50, General Scheme minimum base €1,424.40. Alternating training runs 3 to 24 months. The collective agreement governs all of these figures and there is no national register of agreements that would let us bring it in here.