One part lime, one part sand. The average wage increase agreed upon in state-level deals through last August stood at 3%. As a result, workers have seen three consecutive months where wages rose faster than inflation. Yet this figure still trails the national average, which at the same date was 3.38%.
This gap is clear in the Collective Bargaining Statistics published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy on Friday, which also shows that most closed agreements remain below the national trend. The V Employment and Collective Bargaining Agreement, signed by CEOE, UGT and CC OO, proposes a 4% increase for this year.
Through the first eight months of the year, 83 deals affecting the entire population in the province of Alicante were recorded. These covers 31,059 companies and more than 227,000 workers. Some agreements predict an average wage gain of around 3% this year, which is above the CPI, a measure that has been below that level since June for the third consecutive month.
Thus, workers in Alicante began to recover a portion of purchasing power—modestly, yes—after two years of erosion as prices rose well above agreed-upon increases. It is worth recalling that wages rose by about 4.7% on average in 2021 and 2022, while inflation climbed by roughly 12% in the same period.
However, the less positive news beyond this modest relief is that the province’s agreed increase remained below the national average of 3.38%. Taking into account earnings, Alicante’s workers are already among the lower-paid in the country. This data is unlikely to close the gap.
The situation looks bleaker when compared with the broader averages in nearby regions: Valencia reached 3.92% while other nearby areas hovered around 3.94%, according to the same statistics.
Alicante workers lost almost 1,300 euros in purchasing power in two years
Additionally, only time will tell if the purchasing power recovery will continue, as indicators hint that inflation may rebound in the coming months, driven by trends in fuel prices that have reached annual highs.