Inflation in the years immediately following the pandemic eroded household purchasing power, and in most advanced economies, wages have yet to recover. According to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, the umbrella organization of the world's major developed economies), by the third quarter of last year, wages had recovered to the purchasing power they had in 2020 in only 12 of the 33 most advanced countries.

Economic growth is on the decline and prices are on the rise. The European Commission has presented its economic forecasts for the European economy as a whole, which was hit hard by the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine. The main obstacle for the European Union is runaway inflation, driven by the escalation of energy prices, which Spain has also suffered more than the EU average. Therefore, the Commission admits Spaniards will inevitably lose purchasing power, because their salaries will not grow as much as prices will

In the last two weeks, employers and unions have not found the time to sit down and negotiate what the wage revision to be included in the new Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC) should be. The latest consumer price index (CPI), published in March, put inflation at 9,8%, making the negotiation process even more complicated, especially due to the fear of so-called second-round effects. "We don't know of any imminent meetings," sources close unions and business organisations say. But, while the new AENC continues to be a faraway prospect, wages continue to lose purchasing power.

"We have runaway inflation. Wages have to go up." Secretary general of Union UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has started the new year with a demand that he already tabled weeks before the Christmas campaign. This Tuesday, the union leader has once again demanded that in the face of rising inflation –the advanced year-on-year CPI for the month of December stood at 6.7%– and, in order not to lose purchasing power, it is necessary for workers to see their salaries increase much more. The visible face of the other major union (CCOO), Unai Sordo, has spoke along the same lines: "Spain cannot afford to lose purchasing power".