Spain, the fourth country in the EU with the lowest increase in salaries and the third with the highest increase in corporate profits

• Spain contains general inflation but is the second largest economy in the EU with the most punishment in food

union

has denounced this Friday that

, being the fourth economic power in the European Union, is the

despite registering an average

so far this year of 8.6% and that

have experienced unprecedented increases.

In fact, they point out, Spain is the

"

it is not acceptable that the fourth European economy is the fourth power below in wage increases. We are the fourth country in which wages have risen the least in Europe and it is not acceptable. With an average of

% in 2022,

2021 levels," denounced

UGT's deputy general secretary for Trade Union Policy, during the presentation this Friday of the report 'Business profits grow at the expense of wages'.

The UGT research service points out that

-which includes the cost of wages plus social contributions paid to Social Security-

in the first half of 2022, well below the

or the Eurozone (4.2%) and also a long way from the increase registered in countries such as Germany (5.2%), the Netherlands (4.6%) or France (3.4%).

"

, both in real terms, that is, in relation to the cost of living of the population, and compared to countries with a similar level of development. In this starting context, the moderate increases agreement wages that are being registered in 2022 (2.6% until October), much lower than the general evolution of prices (8.8% on average in the year), paint a

of the working class", they regret.

have registered

in non-financial companies (what they earn cleanly after subtracting expenses from income), since "for the same period of 2022, in Spain it is registered

Profit

grew in our country by

in the first half of 2022, an increase much higher than that experienced by the rest of the countries, whose profit margins mostly decreased:

, in France by 11%, in Italy by 3.6% and in Germany by 2.5%", according to data from the Tax Agency and Eurostat.

Spain ranks as the

with the

profits , only behind Estonia (where they have increased by 11.7% year-on-year) and Belgium (8.7%).

According to the union led by

, this means that Spain will be the

in the euro zone with

in real terms, after discounting the impact of inflation.

"The statistical projections of the European Commission estimate that

in our country, thus registering the

, and a more intense fall than that expected for countries with economies of similar size (Italy, -2.1%; France, -1%)".

"On the other hand,

, reflecting the

Taking into account the estimate of both variables, only Latvia (9.6 points) Portugal (6.3 points) and Ireland (6.3 points) have a higher gap than Spain (5.7 percentage points)," they add.

Companies, guilty of 80% of inflation

The relative increase in benefits compared to wages leads UGT to conclude that

.

This is because when the price increase began in the summer of 2021, experts began to warn of the risk of

- that is, reactions to inflation that generate more inflation, such as wage increases or price increases throughout the economy.

After some time, the UGT considers that

, which has not generated the feared second-round effects, but companies have transferred the increase in costs to prices, which is verified by the improvement in their profit margins. profit, hence they consider that they are responsible for inflation.

Faced with this situation, the

that the employers agree to renegotiate the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (

) -a document that should set the salary revaluation guides for the entire economy in a multi-year horizon - and that

to protect the purchasing power of those who earn less.

"The SMI has also depreciated in 2022 despite the rise to 1,000 euros in fourteen payments. We must continue with the paths in Europe: by 2023 countries like

have already raised the SMI by 9.7%;

a 10%;

, 13%;

, 14%, and

, 15%," recalled Luján.

An increase in Spain of around 10%

, as requested by the union, would mean taking it to

(15,400 euros per year) and, in his opinion, that would serve to accommodate it at 60% of the average salary, as recommended the European Social Charter and in compliance with one of the legislature's commitments.

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