13-02-2026 - In the 4th quarter of 2025, the Labour Cost Index in the Autonomous Region of Madeira increased by 5.6% year-on-year

In the 4^th quarter of 2025

Labour Cost Index in the Autonomous Region of Madeira increased by 5.6% year-on-year

In the 4^th quarter of 2025, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) (adjusted for working days) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) recorded an increase of 5.6% compared to the 4^th quarter of 2024. This change resulted from the combined effect of the changes occurring in its two main components:

Wage costs (per hour actually worked), which increased by 5.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Wage costs include base salary, regular bonuses and allowances, irregular bonuses and allowances (holiday bonus; Christmas bonus; end-of-year bonuses/profit sharing; other bonuses and allowances paid on an irregular basis), overtime pay and payments in kind.

Other costs (non-wage costs, also per hour actually worked), which recorded a year-on-year increase of 5.9%.

Other costs include severance payments, legal charges borne by the employer (employer's contribution to Social Security, work accident and occupational disease insurance), conventional, contractual, and optional charges (supplementary retirement/disability benefits, health insurance, life/personal accident insurance, social benefits paid directly to the worker in case of illness absence).

The year-on-year change in the Labour Cost Index in the ARM resulted from the combined effect of the increase in average costs per worker and the increase in the number of hours actually worked per worker.

Nationally, that index recorded a year-on-year increase of 6.9%: +7.0% in the wage costs component and +6.9% in other costs.

In annual terms, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) in the Region in 2025 recorded an increase of 6.8% compared to the previous year, owing to the increase observed in wage costs (+6.7%) and other costs (+6.9%). Nationally, the annual change in this index in 2025 was 5.5%, resulting from the increases observed in wage costs and other costs, which both increased by 5.5%.