Council talks expose failure to address wage–cost-of-living gap
Unions, employers and the government repeated familiar positions: a token minimum-wage decree by the state does not stop real wages losing.
Key Points
- Government proposes minimum-wage rise roughly double the CPI but real wages still lose purchasing power.
- Unions demand CPI-linked increases; employers say broad raises are infeasible for businesses.
- Leaving most wage adjustments to bilateral negotiations exposes many workers to adverse market dynamics.
- Rising housing costs persist independently, threatening talent retention and middle-class sustainability.
Once again the Economic and Social Council exposed the country’s inability to deliver a coherent response to the main problem affecting citizens: the growing imbalance between wages and the cost of living. Tuesday’s meeting followed a familiar pattern, with unions demanding increases tied to the consumer price index (CPI), employers warning about the infeasibility for businesses, and the government, while acknowledging social pressure, restricting its action to adjusting the minimum wage by decree.
The government’s proposal to raise the minimum wage by roughly twice the rate of the CPI may be presented as a gesture, but it does not address the underlying issue. Real wages are losing purchasing power while housing costs remain at levels that make it difficult both to retain talent and to ensure the sustainability of the middle class.
The gap between the parties is not merely a matter of negotiation tactics but reflects deeper structural differences. Insisting that “the rest of wages” be settled bilaterally leaves many workers exposed to market dynamics that are moving in a different direction from salary discussions. Meanwhile the residential market and prices continue to advance independently of these wage negotiations.
The outcome is a repeated dialogue that produces little change in everyday reality. Without coordinated measures that address wages, housing affordability and broader cost pressures together, isolated adjustments risk being insufficient to reverse the erosion of purchasing power and the pressures on social and economic cohesion.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: