Your views on Spain’s minimum wage increase

The government has proposed to raise the minimum wage to €1,500 per month, which will come into force at the beginning of 2027, if approved by the Spanish cabinet.

We asked our readers on social media what they thought of the news and surprisingly the answers were very divided.

READ ALSO: Spain to raise minimum wage to €1,500 per month

Several of you thought that the raise was overall positive and praised the government for the move.

“Anytime that you put money into working people’s hands, it gets spent and stimulates the economy. Raise the wages,” wrote one reader on Facebook.

“It’s a good thing of course, your work and position being valued. Families benefit,” agreed another.

“It can only be a good thing. If a man and wife both work, then they earn a minimum of €3,000 between them before deductions. Good for them,” wrote another.

“Simple, everyone has the right to a decent living wage, there are those that do little and earn a great deal”, another said.

There were several others, however, who thought that although it was a good idea to raise the minimum wage, the increase is not enough.

“It’s still not enough to pay rent in cities or on the coast though, is it?” one reader simply said. 

“Still not enough with all the outgoings, life is so much more expensive now living day to day. Travel expenses taxes, VAT all the other things,” another reader concurred.

“Still not enough, they need to introduce housing benefit for people on normal incomes paying crazy rent prices,” another suggested.

“It’s also a tax grab. The more you earn, the more tax can be taken. It’s a false economy and it leads to more difficult times if other factors aren’t taken into account…,” another explained his opinion.

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Many of you were concerned about the increase, however and worried that it would ultimately harm businesses who would have to pay their employees more. As many foreigners here are self-employed or run small businesses, it’s a legitimate concern that affects many of our readers.

“With cost of living much higher it might also be considered pointless. It pushes businesses to either put up prices and risk losing customers or closing their doors,” wrote one reader.

“Those who run small businesses or who are freelancers etc, don’t get a pay increases while paying more for everything, so in effect they get a pay cut,” another reader worried.

“So how are many businesses going to afford it,” another concurred. “Some workers don’t get a pay increase, so they in effect get a pay cut because cost of living increases… they put up prices where possible and some businesses may close because they can’t afford to pay more, plus there will be more people working in the black,” another explained.

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Many of you thought that reducing tax would be better than increasing the minimum wage.

“How about lowering tax and social security on people with low incomes so that businesses do not respond by just raising prices?” one reader suggested. 

“Increasing the tax free threshold would be more beneficial and limit the impact on inflation,” another agreed.

“A reduction in tax would have the same impact. All the government is doing is taking credit for extra wage costs they are imposing on businesses around Spain,” another said of the plan.

“Better wages need to come with a serious plan for living costs, tax thresholds and the cost of employing people. Otherwise, politicians get the headline while workers and small businesses try to make the sums work,” concurred another.

“Reducing taxes is far more sensible. Increasing minimum wage increases the costs for employers, which in turn increases the price of producing goods and transporting them,” another explained.

Not everyone agreed though that a tax cut was the right way to go.

“The Spanish tax system is built on public services that are funded through tax revenue. If taxes are cut, less revenue is collected,” one complained to the other respondents.

Another simply said “I’d take a cut in rental costs over a pay increase”.