Wages have been cut across Spain in the past year as the government tries to cheapen labour for employers just as their austerity measures cut the welfare state.
Salaries fell by an average of 0.6% in the year to the first quarter, with inflation pushing the real loss in the purchasing power of those Spaniards in work to 2%.
Falling wages are seen as good news by prime minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's party government and the bosses.
"This will help us become more competitive," the country's employer's federation said.
Further wage cuts seem likely. The Bank of Spain on Friday proposed further labour reforms, including the lowering of the minimum wage. Young people fortunate enough to find work in a country with 57% youth unemployment now earning considerably less than their elders. The Adecco employment agency said that salaries with new job offers in 2012 were 4% below those offered the previous year.
Rajoy's government passed new labour legislation last year to help businesses control or lower pay. It claimed the measures were needed to prevent employers lowering their wage bill by firing workers although 800,000 jobs were lost, with the unemployment rate now at 27%.
Salaries fell by an average of 0.6% in the year to the first quarter, with inflation pushing the real loss in the purchasing power of those Spaniards in work to 2%.
Falling wages are seen as good news by prime minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's party government and the bosses.
"This will help us become more competitive," the country's employer's federation said.
Further wage cuts seem likely. The Bank of Spain on Friday proposed further labour reforms, including the lowering of the minimum wage. Young people fortunate enough to find work in a country with 57% youth unemployment now earning considerably less than their elders. The Adecco employment agency said that salaries with new job offers in 2012 were 4% below those offered the previous year.
Rajoy's government passed new labour legislation last year to help businesses control or lower pay. It claimed the measures were needed to prevent employers lowering their wage bill by firing workers although 800,000 jobs were lost, with the unemployment rate now at 27%.
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