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Spain’s economy is on the up according to global forecasting bodies, more so than its European neighbours and most developed nations.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently revised Spain’s growth forecasts upwards and estimated that the country’s GDP will grow 0.5 points higher in 2024, exceeding 2.9 percent, and predicts a growth of 2.1 percent for 2025.
The increase in Spain’s immigrant population, tourism, business service exports, price moderation, industrial power and public consumption have all reportedly played a role in this.
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In a recent article in Fortune magazine, private equity specialist Jorge Lluch also said that the booming startup scene has played a role in Spain, arguing that “the 2022 Startup Law has provided a more favourable legal and financial framework for creating and scaling emerging companies in Spain”. This is the law that introduced the digital nomad visa that so many of our readers have benefited from.
This talk of economic brilliance is all very well, but is it translating into more money in Spaniards’ pockets? Not really.
There’s a big difference between macroeconomic results and rising wages, wellbeing and purchasing power.
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The reality is that the Spanish economy is growing because the population is increasing – soon to be 49 million – as are the number of workers, mostly foreigners.
But the value of the work being carried out remains low, even though some diversification away from the all-important tourism sector is occurring.
Las clases medias y el crecimiento económico español
La brecha entre los resultados macro y la percepción ciudadana es sintomática de nuestro modelo productivo, de escaso crecimiento de la productividad y de las remuneraciones
Por @RaymondTorres_ https://t.co/OQS0mYUn2o pic.twitter.com/GFVsyBVSSd
— Jon González (@Jongonzlz) November 4, 2024
The biggest beneficiaries of this buoyant economy are investors who have managed to make their capital profitable thanks to rising interest rates and the stock market.
However, Spain’s middle classes have suffered a reduction in purchasing power as the average remuneration per worker is still in decline compared to five years ago.
Per capita income has barely risen by 1.4 percent, five times less than the GDP.
Add the increase in the CPI (Consumer Price Index, in other words – inflation and living costs) and the difficulty Spain’s youth still have in finding a job and accessing housing and the future doesn’t look so bright.
In fact, the housing crisis affects all generations as we all know, especially among those who still have to rent, as the meagre wages rise cannot keep up with the speculative property and rental market.
The fact that Spain’s economy is growing is clearly something positive, but it would be a mistake to link this to Spaniards’ wellbeing and purchasing power, as in many ways they are worse off than a decade ago.
In other news, many people in Spain are currently talking about the rivalry between two programmes on primetime TV in Spain: El Hormiguero on Antena 3 and La Revuelta on La 1.
El Hormiguero has been around for almost two decades now and is presented by Pablo Motos, whilst La Revuelta only started airing a couple of months ago after its host David Broncano was poached from Movistar+ for an astronomical sum to essentially present the exact same programme he had before – La Resistencia – but on Spain’s main public television channel.
Both are chat shows featuring celebrities (including big Hollywood names), they air four times a week (Monday to Thursday) and start after the nighttime news at around 9.45pm.
This battle for Spain’s most watched timeslot reached its peak recently when La Revuelta was just about to have newly crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Martín as its guest, only for him to pull out 30 minutes before the show began after receiving a call from El Hormiguero’s team.
What was said for him to backtrack and appear on El Hormiguero before he did on La Revuelta isn’t exactly cleae, but David Broncano was forced to improvise on the spot, explain the ‘beef’ his team had with El Hormiguero’s and then proceed to air 20 minutes of wildlife footage to fill the gap instead.
Aquí explicación de lo que ha pasado hoy. pic.twitter.com/tQc2S2iAhL
— La Revuelta (@LaRevuelta_TVE) November 21, 2024
It all may seem a bit farcical, but the purpose of our Inside Spain newsletter is to offer the inside view of this country, cover what doesn’t usually make the headlines abroad, and this primetime TV face-off is certainly that.
Vaya hostia de Pablo Motos a todo el estercolero mediático y manipulador que forman RTVE y el Gobierno. Y Broncano de bufón, claro.pic.twitter.com/HRQ03bb8Tp
— Los Meconios (@LosMeconios) November 25, 2024
The rivalry even runs along political lines, El Hormiguero being considered more right-wing (it belongs to private media company Atresmedia) and La Revuelta being left-wing (as the Socialists and are in power and the programme is aired by public broadcaster RTVE).
We encourage you to give them both a watch on La 1 and Antena 3, and do let us know if they’re anywhere near as good as Graham Norton, Jimmy Kimmel or any other late night talk shows you watch back home.