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How much is an hour of your work worth? Under article 271 of the Portuguese Labour Code, €1,300 on a 40-hour week is worth €7.50 gross per hour. The sum works both ways round, and shows the two daily figures Portuguese law keeps apart.

The hourly value uses the statutory formula (Portuguese Labour Code, art. 271): monthly salary × 12 ÷ (52 × hours per week). The holiday and Christmas bonuses are paid separately and are not part of this calculation. Gross amounts, before income tax and social security.

Hourly value
€7.50

How the result is worked out

Value per hour€7.50
Value per day (8 h)€60.00
Daily pay (1/30 of the monthly salary)€43.33
Value per week (40 h)€300.00
Monthly gross salary€1,300.00
Annual salary (12 months)€15,600.00

Educational estimate, not financial advice. It calculates the gross value of an hour of work; it does not include income tax, social security, the meal allowance or overtime uplifts.

Video: how to use the calculator

The statutory hourly-value formula

The Portuguese Labour Code (article 271) sets out how the hourly value of pay is worked out: hourly value = monthly salary × 12 ÷ (52 × hours worked per week). It is the same formula used for payslips and for overtime pay, so it gives the official value of your hour of work. Paragraph 2 of the same article adds a detail that is easy to miss: the weekly hours are the normal weekly working period, "defined as an average where a flexible-hours regime applies". Anyone on adaptabilidade or a banco de horas uses the average week of the reference period, not the hours of the particular week.

Why you multiply by 12 and not by 14

The formula annualises the contractual monthly pay over the 52 weeks of the year, so it uses the factor 12. The holiday and Christmas bonuses are two extra months of pay, not extra hours worked, so they do not change the hourly value. In Portugal salary is paid 14 times a year, but the hour is worked out over the 12 working months.

What a working day is worth (and why the weekly hours do not change it)

From the hourly value, the calculator shows what a day you work is worth: hourly value × hours per day, with the weekly hours spread over the five working days (40 hours a week is 8 hours a day). There is a result here that surprises almost everyone. Substitute the article 271 formula and the value of a day is [salary × 12 ÷ (52 × n)] × (n ÷ 5), and the n cancels: what is left is monthly salary × 12 ÷ 260. So a working day is worth the same whether you work 20 or 40 hours a week. On €1,300 a month a day is €60.00 on any schedule; what changes is the hourly value, and it changes because a part-time day has fewer hours in it.

Daily pay: the other daily figure, and what it decides

There is a second daily number, and it is the one that decides money in most practical situations: the daily pay rate, which is 1/30 of the monthly pay. Portugal’s public-service employment law states it in writing, in article 155(3) of Law 35/2014, and it is also the divisor a day is counted by in the private sector (article 401 of the Labour Code counts unserved notice by the same thirtieth). The Labour Code uses the phrase "daily pay" (in article 328 on disciplinary fines, for instance) but never gives it a formula: it is the public-service code that writes one. On €1,300 the daily pay rate is €43.33 against the €60.00 a worked day is worth. That is €16.67 apart on the same salary, because they answer different questions: one divides the month by its 30 calendar days, the other spreads the working year.

In the public sector: article 155 and the 35-hour week

Public-sector employees do not use article 271: they use article 155 of Law 35/2014, which writes the same formula with different letters, (Rb × 12) / (52 × N). Two things differ. The first is the base: Rb is the monthly BASE pay, without supplements, not the payslip total. The second is the schedule: article 105 sets the normal working period at seven hours a day and 35 hours a week, not the 40 of the private sector. On the same €1,300 base pay, a public-sector hour is worth 1,300 × 12 ÷ (52 × 35) = €8.57, against €7.50 on a 40-hour week. Enter 35 in the weekly-hours field to get the right figure.

The effect of the hours per week

The hours you work each week change the hourly value for the same salary. Someone earning €1,300 for 40 hours a week has an hour worth €7.50; on 20 hours a week (part time) the same pay is worth €15 an hour. That is why it matters to enter your real normal working time, not the default.

These are gross amounts, and what the legal floor is

The value worked out is gross, before withholding income tax (IRS) and the employee’s 11% social security. To find out how much you take home each month, use the net-salary calculator. For overtime pay (with the statutory uplifts on this base hour), use the overtime calculator. As a reference for what the law guarantees: the mainland minimum monthly wage is €920 in 2026, which by the same formula gives an hour of €5.31 on a 40-hour week. No full-time employed hour can be worth less than that.

Worked example

Take a monthly gross salary of €1,300 and a 40-hour week. By the article 271 formula, the hourly value is 1,300 × 12 ÷ (52 × 40) = 15,600 ÷ 2,080 = €7.50 an hour. At 8 hours a day, that is €60.00 for a day worked and €300.00 a week; the 1/30 daily pay rate is €43.33. The other way round: someone charging €7.50 an hour over a 40-hour week has a monthly salary of 7.50 × 52 × 40 ÷ 12 = €1,300. Part time, 20 hours a week on the same salary gives an hour of €15.00 and a working day still worth €60.00. In the public sector, the same €1,300 base pay on a 35-hour week gives €8.57 an hour and the same €60.00 for a day worked.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate the value of an hour of work?
By the formula in article 271 of the Portuguese Labour Code: monthly salary × 12 ÷ (52 × hours per week). With €1,300 a month and 40 hours a week, the hour is worth 1,300 × 12 ÷ (52 × 40) = €7.50.
Why multiply by 12 and not by 14?
Because the formula annualises the contractual salary over the 52 weeks of the year. The holiday and Christmas bonuses are additional payments, not hours worked, so they are not part of the hourly value. Salary is paid 14 times, but the hour counts the 12 working months.
Is the hourly value gross or net?
It is gross, that is before income tax and the 11% social security. To find the net amount you receive at the end of the month, use the net-salary calculator, which applies the deductions to the monthly salary.
How do I convert an hourly rate into a monthly salary?
Multiply the hourly value by 52 and by the hours you work per week, and divide by 12: monthly salary = hourly value × 52 × hours per week ÷ 12. The calculator does this in the "from the hourly value" mode.
What about overtime, is it worth more?
Yes. Overtime is paid with statutory uplifts on this base hour (for example +25% on the first hour on a working day). This calculator gives the base hour; the overtime uplifts are in the overtime calculator.
Does it work for self-employed people and freelancers?
It works as a reference to convert a target monthly income into an hourly rate to charge, and back. Note that a freelancer also pays their own social security and income tax and has no bonuses, so they usually need to charge a higher hour than an employee with the same take-home pay.
How much is a working day worth?
There are two numbers and the law keeps them apart. What a day you work is worth is the hourly value × that day’s hours, which simplifies to monthly salary × 12 ÷ 260: on €1,300 that is €60.00 on any weekly schedule. The daily pay rate is 1/30 of the monthly pay (article 155(3) of Law 35/2014), €43.33 on €1,300, and that is the figure a deducted day is counted by.
Is the hourly value different in the public sector?
The formula is the same, with two differences. Article 155 of Law 35/2014 applies, (Rb × 12) / (52 × N), where Rb is the monthly base pay without supplements; and the normal working period is seven hours a day and 35 hours a week (article 105), not 40. On €1,300 of base pay the hour is worth €8.57 instead of €7.50. Enter 35 in the weekly-hours field to get the right figure.
What is the lowest an hour can pay in Portugal?
The mainland guaranteed minimum monthly wage is €920 in 2026. By the article 271 formula, on a 40-hour week that is €5.31 gross an hour. It is the legal floor for a full-time contract; Madeira and the Azores set their own, higher, minimum wages, and the minimum-wage calculator works those out by region.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: