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WORKING IN SPAIN

CONFIRMED: Spain to raise minimum wage to €1,000

Despite opposition from companies and business associations, Spain’s left-wing coalition government has confirmed that the country's minimum wage will be increased up to €1,000 gross over 14 payments, applicable from January 2022. 

Published: 9 February 2022 16:17 CET
spain minimum wage
It's the second minimum wage increase in the last six months in Spain. Photo: Jaime Reina/AFP

Spain’s Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz on Wednesday announced that the Spanish Cabinet will approve an increase of the country’s minimum wage up to €1,000 at their next meeting on February 22nd.

This represents a €35 increase from the current minimum wage of €965. On Tuesday, trade union UGT disclosed the suggested rise would be €31, but Díaz has decided it should be €4 higher to reach a round number of €1,000.

This is a gross figure (pre-tax) which minimum wage full-time workers will receive over 14 payments as is standard in Spain, with an extra payments during the summer and another at Christmas (pagas extras) rather than 12 (one for every month).

 It will also apply retroactively from January 2022, meaning minimum wagers will be paid an extra €35 for work carried out last month as well as this one.

Spain’s government has pushed through the 3.6 percent minimum wage rise thanks to the support of trade unions CCOO and UGT, and despite not receiving the green light during negotiations from business associations CEIE and Cepyme, which have said the move responds more to “political aspirations than financial common sense”. 

Last September, the Spanish government already approved a €15 rise in el salario mínimo from €950 to €965, a bill which was also spearheaded by Yolanda Díaz and which business associations rejected as unfeasible and detrimental to job creation.

“This government fulfils its promises,” Díaz said during a press conference on Wednesday. 

“Despite everything that’s been said, raising the minimum wage has been very positive for our country and our economy.”

According to the Unidas Podemos politician and second Deputy Prime Minister, it’s “science fiction” to argue otherwise because it’s been “empirically” proven that raising wages encourages people to spend more and this in turn helps the economy.

“We are committed to having a work model that’s not based on low wages, competing like this equates to defending a bad economy, precarious businesses and a social model that is profoundly unfair”.

The government’s objective is that by the end of 2023, Spain’s minimum wage will represent around 60 percent of the average salary in the country.

This latest increase will benefits more than 1.8 million workers in Spain, according to the labour ministry, both full-time and part-time workers.

However, the previous rise in minimum wages resulted in the increase of €8 in social security contributions for the country’s self-employed workers up to €294 a month, a figure that could increase further still for many under new plans to raise rates based on real earnings.  

Even though job insecurity and unemployment remain relatively high in Spain, the country already has the seventh highest minimum wage rate in the EU.

Last Thursday, the Spanish government managed to pass a long-awaited labour reform aimed at ending rampant job insecurity with a majority of just one, but it quickly emerged that a PP deputy accidentally voted for the legislation and in doing so tipped the balance in favour of the government.

This will also lead to a salary increase for some 73,000 workers in Spain who belong to multi-service companies that offer cleaning, gardening, maintenance and other services.

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WORKING IN SPAIN

Not English: The languages linked to high-paying jobs in Spain

It is generally thought that if you speak English, you will have access to more, better and higher paying jobs overseas, but that's not necessarily the case in Spain.

Published: 6 May 2024 09:23 CEST
Not English: The languages linked to high-paying jobs in Spain

It’s obvious that language skills are very important when applying for certain jobs and that some companies are attracted to applications from those who speak more than one.

A common belief in Spain, particularly among locals, is that if you learn English then you’ll have access to better-paying jobs within Spain.

Therefore, it might be surprising to learn that according to a recent study from online, language learning marketplace Preply, it’s not English or even French that’s the most economically valuable foreign language in Spain, it’s Romanian.

The company analysed a total of 500,000 job vacancies in Spain in order to find out which languages ​​are the most economically profitable and which have the greatest demand.  

All the job vacancies were listed on job search engine Adzuna or were from advertisements that explicitly sought foreign language skills.

The study revealed that those who speak Romanian earn an average annual salary of €82,865, almost triple the average Spanish salary, which is €29,113.

In second place was Portuguese, with speakers earning an average of €68,120. This was followed by Arabic, whose speakers earn an average salary of €67,357.  In fourth place was Greek, with an average salary of €58,333 and then French, with an average annual salary of €54,725.

English didn’t even feature in the top five languages when it came to those earning the most in Spain. In fact, it came in ninth place, with speakers earning €49,000 on average.

While English speakers may not be earning the top salary here, it is however still one of the most useful languages to know (other than Spanish) as the study found that it was required by the most number of foreign companies in Spain – 16,000 in total.  

In second place, when it came to useful languages was German. However, the number of companies requiring candidates to speak it was much less than English, with a total of 2,040 vacancies.

READ ALSO: Why are the Spanish ‘so bad’ at English?

Why is Romanian such a profitable language to know in Spain?

It largely comes down to the fact that there are more than half a million Romanians living in Spain. A total of 627,478 in 2022, according to the latest figures available from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE)

Rapid growth in the Romanian-speaking population means that there’s a greater need for Romanian translators and interpreters here. 

The majority of these translators are in the court system and National Police. Romanian, along with Arabic, makes up 50 percent of the court translation requests.

Since 2008, interpreters for the police have been in such great demand that they have had to outsource to specialised companies.

Because of the scarcity of translators who speak these languages specifically and the greater demand, these positions usually come with high salaries.

It has been reported that this year alone, the police will spend around €850,000 per month to translate conversations intercepted from criminals. 

Over the last 10 years, the budget for hiring translators and interpreters has increased dramatically. Currently, the police pay around €26 per hour.

Recently, the Spanish Cabinet authorised the Interior Ministry to bid for new contracts so that the National Police will have access to better interpreter services.  

The budget for this is set at €39.7 million, which is much higher than what was available before.  

Currently, the National Police can request translators in several languages ​​divided into categories according to the frequency of use.  

English, French, German and standard Arabic are some of the most requested, followed by Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian, Polish and Dutch.

Serbian, Bambara, Bengali, Iranian, Persian, Farsi, Armenian and Igbo interpreters are also sought-after.

These translators must have a qualification and experience and must be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. When requested, they must appear at the required police station within a maximum time that ranges between 90 minutes and four hours, depending on the language they speak and the distance they have to travel. This goes some way to explain why they are paid so much.    

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