The unions have been trying for some time to get rid of the recurring suspicion that wages end up being responsible for the inflationary spiral, and in this crisis, for the moment the data gives them a good part of the reason. With an average rise in agreements this year of 2.6% compared to inflation of 8.5%, wages are not seen as to blame.
What UGT points out as being largely responsible for this increase in prices are business profits. Specifically, he points out that the increase in inflation in the first two quarters of this year, corporate profits are responsible for 83.7%, while wages are only responsible for 14.7%. These are data from the report published this morning by the union's research service.
In this sense, it is stated that "the sustained rise in prices has nothing to do with wages that lose purchasing power month by month, but rather with the strategy of a business sector that takes advantage of the lack of competition in some sectors or the expansion of their demand after the pandemic to exorbitantly inflate the prices of their products”.
Specifically, it is pointed out that the profit margins of companies have already exceeded pre-pandemic levels, exceeding it by 1.9 points compared to 2019. In an analysis by sector, in addition to the benefits of banking and energy, the increases in services (2% above the pre-pandemic level), and in construction and real estate activities (1.3 points more). It is also true that in other areas profits are falling, such as in the primary sector, or they are moderating in industry.
With these elements, the conclusion is that the gap between the evolution of wages and real profits becomes one of the highest in Europe, the fourth to be precise. Analyzing the statistical projections of the European Commission, the study concludes that the real salary per employee will fall by 3.1% in 2022, while the real profits of companies will increase by 2.7% in Spain, which leads to a gap of 5.7 points. Only Latvia, Portugal and Ireland have a larger gap.
