The labor market in Spain has always been the subject of debate that transcends unemployment data. But analysts also frequently mention the productivity of our country, as well as the wages. The latter particularly suffered … the increase in inflation in recent years: the same thing can no longer be bought with the same amount of money five years ago as it is today.
A user of the social network “X” showed a map of the evolution of wages in real terms over the last 30 years and The Spanish data is not positive.
The data in this map, as ABC has been able to verify, comes from the latest available data published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). However, it should be noted that these are real salaries. once the effect of inflation is taken into account.
The data corresponds to the variation between 1994 and 2024 and, in this sense, it must be taken into account that The OECD, at the time when the peseta was still the official currency in Spain, made a correlation between the value of this amount and the value of the euro in 2024..
According to the organization’s definition: “The average annual wage is calculated by dividing the total wage bill based on the national accounts by the average number of employees in the entire economy, which is then converted to full-time equivalent units by applying the ratio of the average usual weekly hours per full-time employee to that of all employees. » This, they explain, makes it possible to assess the general level of income of each economy.
The concept of “real wages” implies the true purchasing power of a salary, once inflation and price increases are taken into account.
In Spain, the real average salary has barely increased
Thus, according to these data, the salary in Spain in real terms in 1994 (according to 2024 euros) would be 32,157 euros on average, while In 2024, the real average salary was 33,044. Thus, the increase in 30 years was only one 2.76%.
The case of Italy is also very significant since in this country the evolution of average real wages was only 0.48%, being the only country with worse data than Spain. Conversely, other neighboring countries such as Portugal or France experienced a much greater change: 21.2% in the first and 28.4% in the second. In Germany they increased by 28.4% and in Greece by 22.5%. The increase in Eastern countries is also striking, with some exceeding 100%.
Revealing evolution of real wages from 1994 to 2024 (%).
Just look at Italy and Spain: three lost decades. What were the politicians smoking when they introduced the euro there? Why don’t they admit it was a mistake? pic.twitter.com/syPKPIvmAD
– Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) December 3, 2025
The user who shared the chart in recent days points out that the data implies a “revealing change in real wages between 1994 and 2024.” He also highlights the case of Spain and Italy – which have the worst figures – and says that in both countries there have been “three lost decades”.
Likewise, it calls into question the true usefulness of the euro in both countries. “Why don’t they admit it was a mistake?” he asks. Nevertheless, does not provide deeper analysis than a photo without more data to address a more complex case in which it is necessary to analyze, for example, how each currency reacted in periods of inflation.
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