Spain will raise its minimum wage by 22 percent in 2019, the largest increase in more than 40 years.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made the announcement Wednesday, saying "a rich country cannot have poor workers."
Sanchez said the measure will be approved during a cabinet meeting next week and then will be authorized by royal decree. If everything goes accordingly, it will go into effect in January 2019.
This could effectively raise Spain's current minimum wage of around $835 per month to a little more than $1,000 per month, according to the BBC.
Although the increase will put Spain's minimum wage ahead of its neighbor Portugal, it will still be lower than that of other developed European countries, like Germany, France and the U.K.
