Sometimes, and especially from some political positions, the incorporation of immigrants into the labor market is presented as a zero-sum game. This means, according to game theory, that what some gain, others lose, and vice versa. From the most radical positions, newcomers are labeled as a threat to natives in the labor and social sphere. If many arrive, they take jobs at the expense of the native-born population, they claim. And they are also identified as greater beneficiaries of public benefits than contributors and payers.

TheFènix Report, prepared by several renowned economists, has opened the debate on whether the Catalan economy is doing well or not. The study has caused controversy due to criticism of some productive sectors such as tourism and the meat industry, which it considers to be indirectly "subsidized", and for criticism of economic growth based on immigration rather than increased productivity of companies and workers.

Prepared by a group of renowned economists, the Fènix Report is undoubtedly a relevant contribution to public discourse. Those who shape—and we shape—opinion in the media often attribute a large part of the problems we have as a society to something called the economic model, and not infrequently we write or say that a change, or changes, in this model is necessary. Well, the Fènix Report presents a sound, rigorous, and straightforward exploration and diagnosis of the economic model in force in Catalonia during the first quarter of the 21st century. From 2000 to 2025, Catalonia has only lost sheets (GDP points) with each wash, meaning: in comparisons with regions in Europe, or America, with which Catalonia traditionally used to compete or be reflected, and which allowed for complacent or triumphalist expressions of the type “Catalonia, the Bavaria of Southern Europe” or “Catalonia, the European Massachusetts”. This kind of effusion has long since gone out of style, and in its place a chorus of resentful and phantom voices is heard preaching nationalist retreats or, directly, hate speech directed very especially against immigration. Indeed, the migratory flows that have arrived in Catalonia have only grown during these twenty-five years, and have led to a profound demographic transformation, summarized in the transition from Catalonia of six million to that of eight million inhabitants (the Fènix Report incorporates the forecast of ten million by 2050). It is no coincidence that, from the year 2000 until now, Catalonia, and especially Barcelona, has made its economy increasingly dependent on mass tourism and real estate speculation, two phenomena closely linked, often in the form of cause and effect. In these aspects, it can be said that Catalonia —especially Barcelona— has become Balearized, given that the Balearic Islands are, unfortunately, a benchmark in this economic model focused on low-productivity activities, unskilled labor, and low wages, on which the Fènix focuses. And it is true, as its authors indicate, that workers with excessively low wages do not contribute enough to cover the services they will use throughout their lives, thus “contributing” to the deterioration of the economic fabric and the impoverishment of the country as a whole.

All Catalan municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants registered positive growth in GDP per capita in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to preliminary data published this Friday by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat). The largest increases were in Castelldefels (7.7%) and Mollet del Vallès (7.5%), while Rubí registered the smallest increase (5.2%).

Catalonia is the second region in the Spanish state with the highest GDP (gross domestic product, which measures the wealth of a territory), behind only Madrid. However, despite these absolute figures, when wealth is distributed among the inhabitants of a territory, Catalonia is the fourth region in GDP per capita, according to the state accounting data published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute.