The salary level of workers in Spain is on everyone’s lips due to the rise in inflation that, due to the war in Ukraine and the increase in the price of electricity, is causing citizens to lose purchasing power without the measures of governments are practically solving the problem.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) has recently published its Annual Survey of Salary Structure with data from 2020, in which up to 25,165.51 euros per year, but with a more common salary decrease (the first in five years and the second since 2003), which remains at 18,480 euros.
This last piece of information points in one direction, a problem that has been strongly felt due to the rise in inflation: the different (and smaller) increase in wages compared to the cost of living.
The Government has tried to put a floor on wages with the progressive increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage. The result of this intention were the increases in 2021 and the last one, in early 2022, which has left this amount at 1,000 euros per month in 14 payments or 1,166.67 euros in 12 payments, with effect from January 1, as stated he .
These figures leave the minimum annual salary at 14,000 euros, a limit that is very close to what was the second most common salary in 2020, 13,970 euros per year (it is less than the current SMI, but at that time it was above the 2020 SMI ) and which is yet another example of this growing strain on personal finances to cope with the increase in the cost of living.
For all this, almost half a year after the increase in the SMI and with runaway inflation, the debate on the need to increase workers’ wages continues at its peak. The disagreement between the unions and the employer is clear and has recently become evident when the negotiations for an income agreement fell on deaf ears due to the employer’s refusal to link salaries to the evolution of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), .
The latest proposal from the UGT and CCOO has been one with salary review clauses at the end of each year to compensate for possible imbalances against the worker (it would happen if inflation at the end of the year were higher than that estimate), but from the employers the CEOE a maximum of one has been bet.
How much can the SMI rise in 2023?
With this pending tug of war between employers and unions, the Government will move on its own to increase the Minimum Interprofessional Wage, although its next move is not expected before 2023, the date on which the SMI will predictably rise. The key is how much you will do it.
To answer that question, the Government that projected a progressive calendar of increases that, depending on the circumstances, could leave the SMI at a maximum of 1,049 euros per year in 14 payments. The increase from one year to the next would be 49 euros (the last one, from 2021 to 2022, was 35 euros).
If this maximum increase occurs (there are other scenarios that go up to an SMI of 1,011 euros), the attitude of the employers, who rejected the two previous increases in the SMI, would remain to be seen. The Government approved them, yes, with the support of the unions.
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