Wage inequality has decreased in Spain since the beginning of the 21st century

MADRID (ILO News) – The real growth of wages, both in Spain and globally, has started to rise again as inflation progressively decreases. Despite these positive results, high levels of wage inequality persist, making it a pressing policy issue, according to the report presented on January 16 by Rosalía Vázquez, an expert economist at the ILO in Geneva, and Félix Peinado, director of the ILO office for Spain.

The Global Wage Report 2024-25: Is wage inequality decreasing globally? highlights that, since the early 2000s, wage inequality—which compares the high and low wages of salaried workers—has decreased in Spain by approximately 0.6% on average annually.

Although wage inequality has generally decreased, in Spain, and also since the early 2000s, the real growth of the average wage is estimated to have been between 0.2% and 0.6% across the entire wage scale, except in the highest percentiles, where a real decline of between 0.2% and 1.2% in the average wage has been observed.

More recently, real wages have risen worldwide, but regional differences remain.

The report also concludes that wages have grown faster than inflation in recent times. In the case of Spain, real average wages grew by 1.4% in 2023, while in 2024 they are estimated to have reached a growth of 0.6%, a result 0.3 percentage points below the average expected for advanced G20 countries. These results represent a notable recovery for Spain compared to the negative growth in 2022, when the real average wage fell to -3.5% due to high inflation rates that negatively impacted nominal wage growth in almost all countries worldwide.

In contrast, the report highlights uneven wage growth across regions, where emerging economies continue to experience stronger growth than advanced economies. While advanced G20 economies recorded a decline in real wages for two consecutive years (-2.8% in 2022 and -0.5% in 2023), the growth of real wages remained positive during both years in emerging G20 economies (1.8% in 2022 and 6.0% in 2023).

Regional wage growth patterns varied considerably. According to the report, salaried workers in Asia and the Pacific, Central and Western Asia, and Eastern Europe experienced real wage increases at a faster pace than those in other parts of the world. For example, in the case of the European Union, real wages declined by 0.1% in 2023, although in 2024 growth is estimated to have recovered, reaching a positive 2.7%.

"The return to real wage growth in Spain, and globally, is a positive development," remarked the ILO director in Madrid, Félix Peinado Castillo. "These figures should encourage us to continue promoting wage policies through social dialogue and fostering labor productivity, in order to contribute to the real growth of wages in our country, especially to improve the standard of living of those workers who have suffered the most from the cost-of-living crisis."

The report and the interviews given during the press conference by both the director of the office and the economist from the ILO in Geneva have received significant coverage in national media, including digital platforms, print media, and broadcast outlets.