Walter Finch
THE average salary in Andalucia crept up to over €2,000 a month in 2022.
At €24,042 a year, it represents a 3.8% increase on 2021, according to the Salary Structure Survey released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Thursday.
The average salary across Spain came in at €26,949, a 4.1% increase.
Aside from the pocket of Madrid, the affluent north vastly overshadows the wealth of central and southern regions of Spain.
The Basque Country and Madrid outpace all with average earnings topping €30,000, standing at €32,314 and €31,231 respectively.
They are followed by Navarra and Catalonia, where workers earn €29,190 and €28,775 respectively.
Conversely, the lowest wages were reported in Extremadura (€21,923), the Canary Islands (€23,097), Castilla-La Mancha (€23,752), and Murcia (€23,852).
Joining Andalucia slightly above these figures are Galicia and Castilla y León, with earnings around €24,000.
Other regions such as Asturias, Aragon, Cantabria, La Rioja, and the Valencian Community also reported wages below the national average.
Particularly noteworthy is the Balearic Islands, where the average salary rose to €27,146, marking the country’s highest year-on-year increase at 12.5%.
This upward trend in salaries, particularly in regions previously lagging behind, offers a glimpse of a potentially narrowing economic divide, suggesting a slow but steady fiscal recovery in some of Spain’s traditionally lower-wage areas.
