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Minimum wage and Wage Councils in Uruguay: the national floor, sector minimums and the 11th bargaining round

Last verified: 2026-10-27 · Status: Changing

The National Minimum Wage is UYU 25,383 a month from 1 July 2026 (daily wage one twenty fifth, hourly wage one two hundredth), set by decree after consulting the tripartite Superior Council. The floors that matter in practice are the category minimums and raises set by tripartite Wage Councils (three government, two employer, two worker delegates) for each activity group, binding on the whole group once registered and published, without executive approval since 2023. The 11th round guidelines of July 2025 set raises in three pay bands with inflation correctives; employers who underpay face the difference, a 10 percent surcharge, interest, indexation and damages.

USD figures use UYU 40.214 per US dollar, the BCU quotation for DLS. USA BILLETE on 26 October 2026, retrieved from the BCU quotations service on 27 October 2026; conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

National minimum wage, monthly, from 1 July 2026	25383 UYUDecreto Nº 319/025 art. 2, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
National minimum wage, monthly, 1 January to 30 June 2026	24572 UYUDecreto Nº 319/025 art. 1, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
National minimum wage, daily (monthly / 25)	1015.32 UYUDecreto Nº 319/025 art. 2, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
National minimum wage, hourly (monthly / 200)	126.92 UYUDecreto Nº 319/025 art. 2, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Members of each Wage Council (3 Executive, 2 employer, 2 worker)	7 membersLey Nº 10.449 art. 6, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Deadline for the Executive to convene a Wage Council on request	15 daysLey Nº 10.449 art. 5, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
11th round guidelines: upper limit of first pay band	38950 UYUExecutive guidelines 3 July 2025, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
11th round guidelines: upper limit of second pay band	165228 UYUExecutive guidelines 3 July 2025, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
11th round guidelines: second band accumulated nominal raise, first year	5.9 %Executive guidelines 3 July 2025, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Cap on damages for paying below the minimum, share of wages owed	50 %Ley Nº 10.449 art. 4, as of 2026-10-27 · in force

The rule

1. The National Minimum Wage (SMN) is UYU 25,383 a month from 1 July 2026 and was UYU 24,572 from 1 January to 30 June 2026. The daily amount is the monthly figure divided by 25 and the hourly amount the monthly figure divided by 200.
Cost to do it: UYU 25,383 a month, UYU 1,015.32 a day or UYU 126.92 an hour.
Example: A part time worker on 20 hours a week (about 86.7 hours a month) earns at least about UYU 11,000 at the SMN hourly rate. / UYU 25,383 is about US$631; UYU 126.92 an hour is about US$3.16.Decreto Nº 319/025, Art. 1 and 2, 2025-12-26 official text · verified 2026-10-27 · changed: Raised for 2026 by Decreto Nº 319/025 in two steps, 1 January and 1 July 2026.

2. Minimum wages must be paid in national currency, excluding payment in kind or barter except as the law allows. A piece rate worker must be paid enough for a worker of normal ability to reach the minimum in an eight hour day or a 48 hour week.Ley Nº 10.449 (Wage Councils), Art. 2 and 3, 1943-11-12 official text · verified 2026-10-27

3. Wage Councils fix minimum pay by job category and update the pay of all private sector workers in their activity group; they may also set working conditions agreed by the employer and worker delegates. Each Council has seven members: three appointed by the Executive (one presides), two for employers and two for workers. The Executive may convene a Council at any time and must do so within 15 days when representative organizations of the sector ask. Councils are not needed where a sector agreement signed by the most representative organizations is in force.Ley Nº 10.449 as reworded by Ley Nº 18.566, Ley 10.449 art. 5 and 6 (text of Ley 18.566 art. 12 and 13), 2009-09-11 official text · verified 2026-10-27

4. Wage Council decisions and sector collective agreements take effect for the whole activity group once registered and published by the Executive; since Ley 20.145 of 2023 registration and publication are not an authorization, homologation or approval requirement. A sector agreement signed by the most representative organizations binds all employers and workers at that level, and lower level agreements may not reduce higher level minimums unless the Wage Council allows it.Ley Nº 18.566 (Collective Bargaining); Ley Nº 20.145, Ley 18.566 art. 15 and 16; Ley 20.145 art. 5, 2023-05-17 official text · verified 2026-10-27 · changed: Ley Nº 20.145 (17 May 2023) made clear that registration and publication of Wage Council decisions and agreements need no executive approval, repealed the automatic extension of expired agreements (Ley 18.566 art. 17, second paragraph) and required legal personality for organizations exchanging information in bargaining.

5. The Superior Tripartite Council (six Executive, six employer and six worker delegates) must give its view before the national minimum wage, and minimums for sectors that cannot bargain, are set or changed, and it classifies the activity groups for tripartite bargaining.Ley Nº 18.566, Art. 7, 8 and 10, 2009-09-11 official text · verified 2026-10-27

6. For the 11th round of Wage Councils (185 bargaining tables covering about 745,000 private sector workers), the Executive presented guidelines on 3 July 2025 with three bands of nominal monthly pay: up to UYU 38,950 (about 30 percent of workers), UYU 38,951 to 165,228 (64 percent) and above UYU 165,229 (6 percent). Accumulated nominal raises are 7 percent in the first year and 6.4 percent in the second for the first band, 5.9 and 5.2 percent (semiannual adjustments) for the second band, and 4.6 and 4.5 percent for the third, with upward inflation correctives for the first two bands (an intermediate one on the core CPI with a tolerance margin and a final one on the general CPI). Guidelines are the Executive's position; the binding figures are those in each group's decision or agreement.
Example: A programmer earning UYU 100,000 falls in the second band: under the guideline path the first year raises accumulate to 5.9 percent, about UYU 105,900, before any inflation corrective. / UYU 100,000 is about US$2,487; UYU 105,900 is about US$2,633.Executive guidelines for the 11th Wage Council round (Ministry of Economy and Finance and MTSS), Statement of 3 July 2025, 2025-07-03 official text · verified 2026-10-27

7. An employer ordered to pay wages below the legal or Wage Council minimum also owes damages fixed by the judge, capped at 50 percent of the wages owed. Separately, any unpaid labor credit automatically carries a 10 percent surcharge from the date it fell due, and judgments add 6 percent annual interest plus indexation.
Example: Underpaying a category minimum by UYU 5,000 a month for 24 months creates a UYU 120,000 shortfall, a UYU 12,000 automatic surcharge, interest and indexation, and up to UYU 60,000 in damages. / UYU 120,000 is about US$2,984; UYU 60,000 is about US$1,492.Ley Nº 10.449; Ley Nº 18.572 (Labor procedure), Ley 10.449 art. 4; Ley 18.572 art. 16 and 29, 2009-09-13 official text · verified 2026-10-27

Band (nominal monthly pay)	Share of workers	Year 1	Year 2	Inflation correctives
Up to UYU 38,950 (about US$969)	About 30%	7.0%	6.4%	Yes, upward
UYU 38,951 to 165,228	64%	5.9%	5.2%	Yes, upward
From UYU 165,229 (about US$4,109)	6%	4.6%	4.5%	Not stated

11th Wage Council round: Executive guidelines of 3 July 2025 (nominal accumulated raises)

Worked example

A retailer pays a cashier the SMN of UYU 25,383 (about US$631). If the commerce Wage Council category minimum for cashiers is higher, the SMN is irrelevant: the category minimum applies to every employer in the group once the decision is published.
A tech company with staff in all three bands applies the raises fixed in its group's decision (which may differ from the guidelines), checks the correctives at the dates set in the decision, and records the new pay with the BPS within 15 days.

Step by step

1. Confirm the company's Wage Council group and subgroup (the BPS registration asks for it).
2. Download the latest decision or sector agreement for that group and map each worker to a category.
3. Pay at least the category minimum and apply each scheduled raise and corrective on its date.
4. Register pay changes with the BPS within 15 calendar days.
5. Track the next round: agreements fixed under the 11th round guidelines run for two years with semiannual adjustments for the middle band.

Common traps

The SMN is only the national floor; most claims come from category minimums and missed raises in the Wage Council decision.
Raises apply to all workers in the group, not only union members, once the decision or agreement is published.
Since Ley 20.145, expired agreements do not roll over automatically; read the agreement's own extension clause.
Underpayment claims reach five years back and carry a 10 percent surcharge, interest, indexation and possible damages of up to 50 percent.
A company classified in the wrong group can face back pay at the correct group's minimums; classification disputes go to the Executive with the Superior Tripartite Council's advice.

Sources

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