Since 2018, when Pedro Sánchez arrived at the Moncloa, the number of workers unable to heat their homes in winter has skyrocketed by 130%. Back then, this situation affected 6% of the employed; now, it impacts 14.1%. This is one of the figures extracted from the Living Conditions Survey by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which includes other indicators showing how the living conditions of Spanish workers have worsened.
For instance, there has been a 47% increase in the percentage of workers who have been late in paying housing-related bills, ranging from gas bills to mortgage payments. This affected 6.8% of the employed in 2018; today, it affects 10%.
Having a salary is also no longer a guarantee of being able to face unforeseen expenses (28.4% of workers could not afford them in 2018, compared to 32.7% now). Furthermore, although the incidence is lower, the data regarding those who cannot afford meat or fish every two days—even while employed—is striking: this group has grown from 2.2% of workers to 4.4%, doubling in seven years.
The list of deficiencies does not end with these issues; there are also problems when it comes to personal spending. For example: workers who cannot afford leisure activities have risen from 8.2% seven years ago to 11.6% in 2025, and 13% claim they cannot afford to spend even a small amount of money on themselves (up from 7.7% in 2018).
The evolution of these indicators confirms the perception among many employees that their paychecks have been stretching less and less in recent years.
Data shows that the situation has grown aggressively more complicated since the pandemic. It was then that the gap widened: between 2020 and 2025, prices increased by 22.15% while wages agreed upon in collective bargaining rose by only 17.84%, resulting in a loss of purchasing power. Rent has also spiked dramatically—up to 35% since then, according to analyses by platforms such as Idealista or Fotocasa. Renting an 80-square-meter apartment costs an average of 1,200 euros per month in our country, an unfeasible amount for those earning the minimum wage or the most common salary range, which oscillates between €15,574.85 and €19,500 for nearly 10% of workers.
