The average monthly total gross remuneration per employee (per job) increased by 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in the previous year, having risen from 1,478 euros in December 2020 to 1,507 euros in December 2021, according to recently released data by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This is, however, a variation of 0.9 percentage points (pp) lower than that observed in September 2021 (2.8%), which means that wages are falling in real terms, which implies a loss of purchasing power, taking into account the rise in inflation.

Falling in real terms

“The average monthly total gross remuneration per employee (per job) increased by 1.9% in the quarter ended December 2021 (fourth quarter of the year), compared to the same period in 2020, to 1,507 Euros. Both the regular component of that remuneration and the basic remuneration increased by 2.3%, reaching, respectively, 1,103 and 1,036 Euros. In real terms, taking as a reference the variation of the Consumer Price Index, the average total and regular remuneration per employee decreased by 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively, and the base remuneration remained unchanged. These results cover 4.3 million jobs, corresponding to Social Security beneficiaries and subscribers to Caixa Geral de Aposentações”, reads the INE bulletin.