In the last 15 years, the salary of the employees has increased by nine points less than the inflation.

Salaries of Spaniards have been devalued in recent years, especially in 2022. This is indicated by the statistics of Eurostat, the National Institute of Statistics or the Ministry of Labor. A report published this Wednesday by consultancy ICSA Group and Eada Business School elaborates on this conclusion: Between 2007 and 2022, accumulated inflation is 33%, while base workers’ wages are expected to increase by 23.9%. In other words, the purchasing power of these people declined by 9.1%.

One of the novelties the report provides is that it differentiates between employees, intermediate positions, and managers. Salaries of managers increased by 24.49% over the past 15 years (so their purchasing power declined by 8.5%) and those in intermediate positions increased by 28.66% (with 4.34% less purchasing power). 2022, the year of the war in Ukraine and the resulting energy and inflation crisis (8.4% in Spain), is what triggers the gap between wages and prices.

The report provides figures for average annual gross pay: managers received an average of 85,531 euros in 2022; middle managers, 44,778; and employees, 24,269. Thus, the lowest salary increases between 2021 and 2022 were for managers (3.4%), followed by lower ranks (3.41%). People in intermediate positions increased by 5.99%.

By sectors, the highest annual wages for intermediate positions are banking (92,980), followed by transportation (88,340) and industry (83,183). Banking is also the highest remunerated sector for intermediate positions (53,129), but construction ranks second in this category (45,849), followed by industry (45,306). And among base employees, banking is also the sector with the best salary (28,559), but by a much smaller margin than industry (28,489). Construction ranks third (23,730). There are sectors that are not included in the report, such as agriculture or technology.

There are also differences by community: Madrid has the highest wages in all categories (manager, 90,740; intermediate, 47,505; worker, 25,747). On the other side of the scale is La Rioja (managers, 73,131; intermediates, 38,286; workers, 20,751). The distance by company size is also clear: employees in small companies earn 21,097 euros per year, 25,116 in medium-sized companies and 27,504 in large companies, similar differences seen in other categories.

“The impact of inflation has been decisive, as was not known in previous decades. Measures have been taken to control it, although the structural triggers that caused it have not disappeared. The recovery of purchasing power of wages will not be an immediate task, but should be considered progressively over the coming financial years”, says the ICSA Group and Ada Business School report, which is drawn from a survey of 80,000 employed workers.

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