The Balearic Islands have been facing a great contradiction for years: being one of the autonomous communities that generates the most wealth, its wages continue to be below the Spanish average and many citizens survive with on minimum salary or below. Specifically, the Balearic Islands has 218,322 citizens who earn below the minimum interprofessional salary according to the latest data from the Tax Agency. There are 99,130 people who earn less than half a minimum wage, with an average of 3,194 euros per year, and 119,192 earn between half and full minimum wage, with an average of 10,048 euros per year. Those who manage to exceed the SMI limit by little, that is, between the minimum and a half there are 108,965 people, who receive an average of 16,625 euros per year.

Just a week ago it was reported that a worker in the Balearic Islands received 19,791 euros on average in 2021, while in the Community of Madrid the average salary amounted to 27,981 euros. This represents a difference of 8,190 euros per year. The average gross salary in Spain that year was 21,519 euros, which places the worker on the islands well below the state average. If we look at the division between men and women, a significant gap can be observed: in 2021 men earned an average of 21,214 euros per year, while women obtained an annual salary of 18,234 euros. This means that there was a difference of 2,980 euros per year.

Large salary differences by sector

By activity sector, there is also a significant difference between employees. At the lowest end of the scale are those working in agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing, with an average annual salary of 13,670 euros. At the opposite end of the scale are workers in financial institutions and insurance companies, with an average salary of 42,100 euros per year. The difference is abysmal: 28,430 euros per year.

In order are extractive industry, energy and water (35,762), social services (29,760), information and communications (26,647), industry (19,470), construction and real estate activities (18,499), trade, repairs and transport (18,029) and business services (17,625). In all of them there is a common denominator: women earn less than men, except in agriculture, where they earn 14,138 euros per year.

One of the frequent questions in any survey is how rich do you think you are. For this purpose, the Tax Agency also offers data by deciles, which allows us to know each citizen’s position. The World Inequality Database points out that, in Spain, with an income above 20,500 euros gross per year you are in the rich half of the country, although the concept “rich” here refers to being above the average.

For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.