The average gross salary grew by 2.9% in 2021, to 25,896.8 euros per year and the most frequent salary was 18,502 euros per year

Almost one in five workers (17.5%) earned in 2021 at most the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI), which was 13,370 euros per year, while 46.8% received between one and two times the SMI. Thus, adding both percentages, two out of three workers earned less than 1,910 euros per month last year.

This is reflected in the ‘Salary Structural Survey 2021’ of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published this Tuesday, which indicates that the most frequent gross salary in Spain was 18,502.5 euros per year, received by 563,384 employees. The second most frequent salary reached 16,487.2 euros per year and was received by 560,327 workers.

The most frequent first salary is 22.3 euros higher than that of 2020 but it is 7,394 euros below the average gross annual salary of 2021. This rose 2.9% compared to the previous year, to stand at 25,896.8 euros, the the highest figure at least since 2008. It is the eighth consecutive year in which the average salary has increased.

The statistical body explains this difference between the average salary and the most common one in that there are few workers with very high salaries, but they have a significant influence on the average salary, so there are many more workers with low salaries. The INE, then, makes a division between those with a higher salary and those with a lower salary to obtain the median salary, which in 2021 stood at 21,638.69 euros, 3.4% more than in 2020.

The average gross annual salary of men stood at 28,388.6 euros in 2021, 2.7% higher than in 2020, while that of women increased by 3.2%, to 23,175.9 euros. Despite growing at a faster rate, the average annual salary for women represents 81.6% of that of men (81.3% in 2020). However, this salary difference is reduced if similar jobs are considered.

Per hour, the average gross salary of men was 17.30 euros in 2021, 2.3% more, while that of women rose 2.6%, to 15.61 euros. According to the European definition, the gender pay gap in 2021 was 9.8%.

One in four women (25%) received an annual salary less than or equal to the SMI in 2021, a percentage that among men drops to 10.7%. The INE stresses that this situation is influenced by the higher percentage of women who work part-time.

At the same time, 3.9% of men presented salaries five times or more higher than the SMI in 2021, compared to 2.2% of women.

In addition, 16.7% of the workers obtained an hourly earnings of less than two thirds of the median salary and of these, almost two out of three were women.

THE SALARY OF TEMPORARY WORKERS RISES MORE THAN 3%

According to the survey, workers with temporary contracts earned an average of 19,842.69 euros per year in 2021, 3.2% more than in 2020, compared to 27,228.8 euros for those hired indefinitely (2.3%) . In general, workers with a fixed-term contract had an average annual salary that was 27.1% lower than that of permanent contracts.

In permanent contracts, the earnings per hour for men (17.09 euros) was 9% higher than the average, while for women it was 3.7% lower.

In the case of temporary workers, the earnings per hour (13.77 euros) were lower than the average earnings per hour for both the total number of workers and for each sex. In women it was 14.8% lower, while in men the difference is 18.6%. This means that the hourly wage in temporary contracts was 4.6% higher for women than for men.

By type of working day, the variable that most influences remuneration, the average annual salary of full-time workers was 29,657.8 euros, 2.7% higher than in 2020, while that of part-time workers rose 3.5%, to 12,049 euros.

For the INE, it is more relevant to analyze earnings per hour because full-time wages correspond to more hours of work than part-time wages. Thus, the hourly earnings of full-time workers in 2021 were 17.35 euros, 2.8% more than in 2021, while part-time workers earned 11.59 euros per hour, the same as in 2020.

The salary difference between men and women is reduced if the earnings per hour are compared. While the average annual salary for women was 81.6% of that for men, if hourly wages are considered, this percentage reaches 90.2%.

Compared to 2020, the full-time hourly earnings of women increased in 2021 by 2.9%, to 16.85 euros, compared to a rebound among men of 2.7%, to 17.71 euros . Part-time, the hourly wage decreased by 3.1% among men, to 12.72 euros, while among women it rose 1.5%, to 11.08 euros.

HOSPITALITY, THE SECTOR WITH THE LOWEST SALARY

The economic activity with the highest annual remuneration in 2021 was the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (52,985.8 euros), which more than doubled the national average. They are followed by financial and insurance activities (46,122.2 euros), information and communications (36,630.4 euros per year), extractive industries (34,866.3 euros) and Public Administration (34,010 euros).

On the other hand, employees in the hospitality industry (14,632.8 euros per year), administrative activities and auxiliary services (18,118.6 euros) and other services (18,220.7 euros) obtained the lowest remunerations.

Wages grew in 2021 in all economic activities, except in energy supply, where they decreased by 1.5%, and in artistic activities (-1.4%). The most pronounced increases occurred in real estate activities (6.3%), water supply (5.1%) and construction (4.5%).

BASQUE COUNTRY, THE HIGHEST SALARY

The directors and managers presented in 2021 an annual salary of 59,219.8 euros. They are the ones that earn the most by occupation group, with a remuneration that is 128.7% higher than the average.

On the other hand, the lowest salaries are for unskilled workers in services, with 13,874.2 euros per year; workers in catering and retail services, with 16,310.9 euros, and workers in health and personal care services (17,453.2 euros).

According to this survey, the average annual salary of workers with Spanish nationality was the only one that exceeded the average in 2021, with 26,427.5 euros. All groups with nationality other than Spanish had a salary below the average salary, the lowest being those of workers from the rest of the world (16,128 euros) and from America (16,747 euros).

By autonomous communities, the panorama has not changed compared to other years: the Basque Country (31,063.68 euros per year per worker), Madrid (29,512.58 euros) and Navarra (28,459.3 euros) continued to register the highest salaries in 2021, while Extremadura (21,393 euros) and the Canary Islands (22,466.2 euros) presented the lowest.