Another statistic pushes up the 2025 SMI: the wage price grows by 4% | Economy | EUROtoday

The National Institute of Statistics printed this Tuesday the Quarterly Labor Cost Survey (ETCL) for the third quarter. It consists of an interannual improve within the wage price per employee (what it prices the employer to pay the worker’s wage) of 4.1%: in the identical interval of 2023 it was 2,118 euros per 30 days and in 2024, 2,205 euros. It is yet another statistic on the desk of the consultants who’ve the duty of recommending to the Ministry of Labor how a lot the minimal interprofessional wage (SMI) ought to develop in order to not lose buying energy and never cease representing 60% of the typical wage. The subsequent assembly shouldn’t be but closed, however it’s deliberate that they may meet once more shortly.

The important wage statistic in Spain is the Salary Structure Survey, however it’s printed very late, so it can not function the one supply for the consultants from the Government, unions and universities that make up the group. Hence, because the ministry has defined, in addition they take different statistics as a reference, such because the ETCL. That of the third quarter exhibits a major improve in comparison with final yr, which exceeds the evolution of costs till November (2.8%). Thus, salaries, at the least on common, are gaining some buying energy.

These knowledge draw a pattern in keeping with different statistical sources: final week the evolution of salaries included within the settlement till November was identified (these signed this yr grew by 3.74%) and likewise the Harmonized Labor Cost Index, which indicated a improve of 4.9%. These figures don’t match precisely as a result of they take totally different references and analyze totally different universes, however all of them level to a wage improve that exceeds costs.

According to the interpretation of the Ministry of Labor, the minimal interprofessional wage was already at 60% of the typical wage with the final improve, which raised the bottom attainable remuneration to 1,134 gross euros in 14 funds. Thus, in idea, in order that it doesn’t cease representing 60%, it ought to develop at the least as a lot as the remainder of salaries, surpassing costs, that are advancing at a decrease price. This dedication to 60% of the typical wage is a promise of PSOE and Sumar of their Government pact. After the consultants’ suggestion, negotiation between unions and employers will start. The Government doesn’t want parliamentary assist to approve the rise.

The ETCL additionally research the whole labor price per worker, not simply what the wage implies for the employer. With this extra international parameter, the fee quantities to three,021 euros per employee per 30 days (4.4% greater than a yr earlier than). It had already surpassed the three,000 euro barrier not too long ago, however it’s the first time it has performed so within the third quarter, which consolidates the upward thrust in labor prices.

This Monday one other essential wage statistic was printed, that of Eurostat. According to the European statistical institute, salaries grew in Spain within the third quarter by 4.7%, in comparison with the identical interval in 2023. It is a rise similar to the typical of the Twenty-seven (5%). The greatest jumps happen in Eastern Europe, with will increase of 17.1% in Romania, 15.1% in Croatia and 14.1% in Hungary, nations which have additionally been registering greater than common inflation charges. In probably the most populated nations the situation is totally different: salaries grew by 2.7% in France, 4% in Germany and 5.2% in Italy.

Vacancies shrink

These Eurostat and INE research are accompanied by unfilled job vacancies. The Spanish knowledge exhibits a slight drop within the positions for which it can not discover labor: there have been 150,541 within the third quarter, lower than the final quarter (151,379) and than in the identical interval of the earlier yr (155,797). This drop happens even though the labor market has grown strongly in that interval, with some 400,000 extra employees.

Thus, the Spanish emptiness price (a ratio of the variety of vacancies to the whole variety of employees) stays at 0.9%, in accordance with Eurostat, with out variations lately. Spain is among the nations on the backside of this registry, a type of that suffers the least from the issue. It is way more related within the Netherlands (4.3%), Belgium (4.2%) or Austria (3.8%), all of them nations with unemployment charges a lot decrease than the Spanish one. The European Union common has been falling in latest quarters, reaching 2.2% within the third quarter, after reaching 3% at first of 2023. The stoppage of a number of nations in central Europe, particularly Germany, is mitigating the issue.