BUDGET clothing chain Primark has upped staff wages starting from this month's salary slips and has published its pay scales in Spain – which will give candidates for the recently-advertised job vacancies an idea of what they could be earning.
The Irish retailer, which has branches throughout the country – including Madrid, Valencia and Murcia – pays entry-level staff a gross €14,500.50 a year, or €8.19 an hour, which translates to a 34-hour week and a monthly take-home pay of €1,052.
After 18 months' service, their wages rise to 16,740.42 per annum before tax for a 34-hour working week, or €9.46 an hour, giving them a net monthly income of €1,173.
These are labelled 'Group 0' and 'Group I' staff – 'Group II' are supervisors, who get €10.66 an hour, again with a 34-hour week, totalling €18,862.45 annually before tax, or a net take-home of €1,298.50.
'Group III', or store managers, now earn €11.99 per hour for 34 hours a week, being €21,220.25 gross per year, giving an after-tax monthly income of €1,438.40.
These are 'basic' salaries, and in Spain, wages are often made up of a series of 'bonuses' as standard on top of the basic pay – such as for qualifications, languages, long service, or travelling – meaning in practice, Primark staff may be earning more than these amounts.
Spain's minimum wage for a full-time job is a gross €13,300 a year, or monthly take-home of €996.80.
According to La Información, which published details of the new vacancies, average net wages before the 1.5% increase effective from the beginning of October ranged from €918 to €1,214 at entry level, although the former – in the case of a 'Group 0' worker – would be based upon a work schedule of approximately 29 hours a week.
Only as recently as four years ago, Spain's minimum wage for a full-time job was a net €300 a month less than it is now – a before-tax pay of €742.40, or a take-home pay of €697.60 – meaning it has risen rapidly, and plans were originally afoot to up it to €14,000 a year by 2021, which would give a net monthly salary of €1,029.10.
This has been welcome news to employees across the board – although a single minimum wage-earner would have to be mortgage-free to make ends meet, a couple with both parties on this figure, even with a mortgage, would be able to live reasonably well, rather than struggling financially as they would have been in 2016.
Whilst the minimum wage is still several hundred euros a month below that of neighbouring countries, the cost of living in Spain, especially outside the biggest cities, is much less, so the difference is not so great in real terms - and Spanish workers have seen some of the fastest bottom-wage rises in Europe in the past four to five years.
