Salaries closed the second quarter of the year with an increase of 4.8% year-on-year (discounting seasonal effects), one of the highest rates of increase recorded in the labor cost index which is updated every three months by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). A fact that coincides – if calendar effects are not discounted – with the salary increase detected by the Tax Agency. After two years in which companies raised prices but hardly payrolls, in this second wave salaries are registering increases above the inflation.
However, these are still not intense enough or sustained over time to allow workers to recover all the purchasing power lost after the outbreak of the inflationary storm. The current dynamic is positive for the pockets of workers, spurred by the upward renewal of collective agreements under the guidelines agreed between employers and unions. Also due to the improvement in the quality of employment, which grows with higher quality and better paid jobs.
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According to data published this Friday by the INE, the salary per hour actually worked in Spain is at the end of the second quarter a 12.2% higher than the same period in 2019, before the outbreak of covid. However, the CPI has grown more powerfully and, for those same dates, prices have risen by fifteen%. And although salaries (4.8%) currently increase at a faster rate than prices (1.9%, in June), they have accumulated multiple months in the opposite trend.
The negative balance compared to the period prior to the pandemic is transversal, although there are a few activities that do have better real salaries. This is the case of workers in companies dedicated to real estate activities (+4.9%) or scientific and technical professionals (1.5%).