The wage gap between employers and workers in Catalonia grows by 70% in four years

BarcelonaThe salary gap between employers and workers in Catalonia has widened by 70% over the last four years, according to an analysis by the General Workers' Union (UGT) published this Wednesday. According to the data collected by the union – based on the survey of living conditions from the National Statistics Institute (INE) – employers in Catalonia earned an average of 36,301 net euros annually from their activity in 2025, while salaried employees received 24,108 euros annually during the same period. The difference of approximately 12,200 euros exceeds that recorded in 2021, when the average gap between the two groups was almost 7,200 euros.

The differences are also evident when considering income after inflation effects. Between 2021 and 2025, the real wages of employers increased by 17%, while those of salaried employees increased by 5.2%. In this regard, the UGT points out that the differences could be even greater if data from listed companies and large corporations were taken into account. It should be remembered that the survey of living conditions, used to produce the study, mainly reflects the reality of small and medium-sized enterprises, as it is a questionnaire based on a sample of 16,000 families.

While the union states that they do not oppose companies making profits, they do lament how they are being distributed. "We see that patterns that are occurring in the most unbridled capitalist system are being repeated. We are heading towards a more dual society," stated the secretary of Trade Union Policy of the UGT of Catalonia, Òscar Riu, at the press conference presenting the document.

By sectors, the most pronounced differences are observed in artistic activities, where net business profits compared to net wages of salaried employees multiply by an average of 3.2. Significant disparities are also recorded in administrative activities, with a multiplier factor of 2.5, and in the real estate sector, of 2.2.

Persistent inequality

Another piece of data that the UGT focuses on to denounce the increase in inequality has to do with the median wage, which is the value that ends up in the middle when all wages are ordered from lowest to highest. Compared to the average salary – which in 2024 in Catalonia stood at 31,730 gross annual euros – the median wage was 27,133 gross euros. This means that at least half of the salaried people in the country received income below 27,133 euros.

Following this statistic, the 10% of people with the highest salaries – 56,220 gross euros per year – earn more than four times what the 10% of people with the lowest salaries, 12,645 annual euros, receive.

Despite the generalized improvement in remuneration in recent years indicated by the UGT, the union points out that this has not been enough to "correct existing inequalities". "The difference between the average and median wage, as well as the large gap between the highest and lowest wages, show that a significant portion of workers continue to receive relatively moderate remuneration," the organization points out.

This is why the union claims the importance of collective bargaining to continue safeguarding workers' purchasing power in a context marked by the rising cost of basic products and services. In fact, the UGT recalls that there is still work to be done in many sectors and that the situation remains "worrying": out of the 372 agreements in Catalonia, only 118 include a salary review clause.

Millionaire profits

Although the analysis does not include data related to the salaries of executives in large companies, the UGT does mention Catalan companies present in the Ibex-35. According to data corresponding to 2025, the large listed companies – CaixaBank, Banc Sabadell, Naturgy, Grifols, and Fluidra – exceeded 10,000 million euros in profits. For Òscar Riu, this data highlights the "unequal" distribution of business gains and contradicts discourses pointing to "unaffordable" cost increases. "There are things that are starting to disrespect the country's workers," Riu stated, recalling that the main concern of employers' associations seems to be absenteeism.

To quantify this figure, the union proposes a symbolic distribution of profits. Of the 10,000 million euros, half – 5,000 million euros – would allow for the payment of an extraordinary bonus of about 1,300 euros to each of the more than 3.8 million employed people in Catalonia. The remaining 5,000 million could be allocated to investment in research, development, and innovation (R+D+i) to increase productivity and train staff. For the UGT, this formula would contribute to combating the "degradation" of wages and to "gaining competitiveness" in an environment of growth based, in part, on low wages.