PORTUGUESE COMPANIES failed to declare 6.9 million euros in contracted salaries in 2006, according to the latest data released from the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.
This amount represents the difference between the total salaries paid to public sector workers and receipts declared to social security.
According to economist Eugénio Rosa, the result of this ‘oversight’ on the part of small and medium sized businesses means that social security lost out on 2.4 million euros.
Declared debt can also be added to this amount, the difference between what companies declare every month and what they actually pay.
True amounts
This category represented 2,185 million euros in 2006, an increase of 122 per cent in relation to the 983 million registered in 2004.
The non-declared value of employee salaries contracted to companies varied from district to district, but the difference was most marked in Lisbon: 236.74 euros. The Setúbal district was at the other end of the extreme with only 58.30 euros.
At a national level it concluded that on average the salaries were 756.18 euros although the actual salary reached 915.55 euros.
In other words the companies themselves were hiding true amounts earned and that in practice the Portuguese were earning 159.37 euros undeclared.
The Portuguese unemployment rate is currently running at 7.9 per cent and is the fifth highest of all the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries.
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