Rioja salaries have grown 15% since the covid, but less than in the rest of the country

The evolution of average salaries in the region has been increasing in recent years according to various studies. In the case of the salary costs shown by the INE for the first quarter of 2024, gross salaries have grown by 15.6% compared to the same period in 2020, just before the outbreak of the pandemic, when they were 1,659 euros. In the same period, the national data have moved in similar terms, although somewhat above those of Rioja, since the national average salary went from 1,889 to 2,206 euros, 16.8% more. Furthermore, in the last year, in La Rioja it has grown by 2.8% and in Spain, also higher, by 3.7%.

The total differences have increased and the gross salary of the region is already separated by almost 300 euros per month from the national salary, an issue that is more acute compared to other regions. The highest salaries are earned in Madrid (2,778 euros), the Basque Country (2,460), Catalonia (2,398) and Navarra (2,287). They are only below our community in Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Castilla y León, Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura, the latter with an average salary cost of 1,754 euros.

Although comparisons, especially with northern neighbors, are discouraging, average regional salaries have improved, as in the country as a whole, significantly in recent years compared to the stagnation of the decade after the economic crisis of 2008. In the last year alone, salaries have risen more than between the 2010-2020 period, where they barely moved slightly above 1,600 in La Rioja and 1,800 in Spain.

The main cause: SMI

One of the clear reasons for this increase, which is pointed out as the main one by Javier Morentin, Secretary of Union and Institutional Action of CC OO La Rioja, is the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage, which has gone from 950 euros in 2020 to 1,134 that are currently applied. This issue has increased the salaries received by those who earn the least and, ultimately, boosted the average from below.

“We are verifying that measures such as the increase in the SMI or the radical change that has occurred in hiring, with the increase in permanent contracts, far from having a negative impact, are causing a resurgence of the state and regional economy,” says Javier Morentín, who He emphasizes that “it goes to show that the better the purchasing power of the workers, the better the economy is doing.”

However, La Rioja is still on the salary wagon and Morentín wonders “why, by transferring to the region the proposals and improvements that we agreed with businessmen at the state level, the La Rioja employers’ association does not want to assume these agreements.” Furthermore, he emphasizes that it is a classic claim to “try to get closer to the average salaries of neighboring communities, which would contribute to retaining qualified workers.”

Rising labor costs

On the other hand, from the Federation of Companies of La Rioja (FER), Pedro José Sáez, head of the Advisory Department, emphasizes that companies “continue to bear increasing labor and salary costs, to which we must add a heavy tax burden . This increase along with constant increases in the SMI, activity costs, contributions, taxes and financial expenses make business work very complicated.

Pedro José Sáenz alludes to the general increase in labor costs, which include, in addition to salaries, other costs, which are influenced by Social Security contributions. These represent 696 euros on average (26.1%), and their proportion with respect to the total labor cost has barely changed in recent decades.

The FER considers that “due to the exorbitant growth in costs, especially labor and wages, companies have little capacity for growth”, highlighting “the significant increase in the industrial sector, which has lost dynamism.”