The agreements signed this year exceed 4.2% increase and workers with a review clause rise to 23.5%

MADRID, 8 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The salaries agreed upon in the agreement rose on average by 3.38% until August, a figure higher than that registered in July (3.34%) and almost eight tenths above the advance CPI, whose interannual rate stood at the eighth month of the year. at 2.6%, according to data extracted from the collective bargaining statistics of the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.

However, the final inflation data for the month of August must still be confirmed by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) next Tuesday, September 12.

The average salary increase included in the agreements registered until August has also shortened the gap with the guidelines set by CCOO, UGT, CEOE and Cepyme in the V Interconfederal Collective Bargaining Agreement that they signed a month ago.

Specifically, this agreement recommends salary increases of 4% in 2023 and 3% for both 2024 and 2025, with a salary review clause that, in the event of deviation from inflation, could imply additional increases of up to 1% for each of the years of the agreement (2023-2025).

In this way, the average salary increase included in the agreements registered until August (3.38%) is less than seven tenths of the 4% salary increase recommended by social agents for this year.

Most of the agreements registered until August in the Labor statistics were signed in previous years, although they will take effect in 2023.

Specifically, in the first eight months of the year, a total of 2,988 collective agreements had been registered with economic effects in 2023, of which only 700 have been signed this year, with an average salary increase of 4.25%, above inflation and what is contemplated in the V AENC. The rest of the agreements, 2,288, were signed in previous years and include a much lower average salary increase of 3.08%.

The 2,988 agreements registered until August provided protection to almost 9.3 million workers.

According to Labor statistics, most of the agreements registered until August do not have a salary review clause to avoid losses of purchasing power. Specifically, of the 2,988 agreements counted, only 14.5% (434) had a salary guarantee clause and of them, 298 contemplate that it be applied retroactively.

The agreements that include a review clause affect 2.18 million workers of the slightly more than 9.28 million covered by the agreements registered until August, the equivalent of 23.5% of the total.

Thus, the bulk of workers (almost three out of every four) lack safeguard clauses in their collective agreements. However, the number of workers protected by this instrument has increased compared to that existing in December 2022 (21.08%) and to the data from the previous month, July, when it stood at 23.4%.

Of the total agreements registered until August, 2,161 were company agreements, with effects on 535,483 workers and an average salary increase of 3.13%, while 827 were sectoral agreements and covered more than 8.7 million workers, with a average salary increase of 3.40%.

The average working day agreed upon in the agreement stood at 1,754.4 hours per year per worker until August (1,698.6 hours in company agreements and 1,757.8 in higher-level agreements).

Of the 2,988 agreements registered until August, a total of 77, equivalent to almost 2.6%, contemplated a salary freeze, while 39.4% of the agreements, almost four out of ten, included a higher salary increase at 3%, with the average being 4.98%.

41.9% of the agreements recorded in the first eight months of the year involve average salary increases ranging from 1% to 2.5%. The statistics only include one agreement with a salary cut, of 3.75%, with effects on 78 workers

The Labor statistics also reveal that until August, 459 non-applications of agreements were registered, above the 382 in the same period of 2022 (20.1%).

These 'disengagements' affected a total of 20,139 workers, compared to the 14,708 affected in the first eight months of 2022, which represents an increase of 36.9%. The 'removal' of the agreements supposes the revision of the labor conditions in the companies.