# Spanish Wages



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Anyone contemplating a move to Spain who needs to find work would do well to take a look at the figures in this article - even if someone can find a job the salary is likely to be pitifully low.

I am amazed to see that security guards at the new Pompidou Museum in Màlaga are being paid less than €4 per hour. How can that be legal, when it's well below the Spanish national minimum wage?


Ser mileurista, un lujo para quienes empiezan hoy en un trabajo . SUR.es


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

It's not.

List of sovereign states in Europe by minimum wage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unless it is.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Lynn R said:


> Anyone contemplating a move to Spain who needs to find work would do well to take a look at the figures in this article - even if someone can find a job the salary is likely to be pitifully low.
> 
> I am amazed to see that security guards at the new Pompidou Museum in Màlaga are being paid less than €4 per hour. How can that be legal, when it's well below the Spanish national minimum wage?
> 
> ...


Very interesting article.But sadly a lot of people wanting to move here can't read Spanish and we have a lot of Spanish friends who have taken 3euros an hour picking olives just to put food on the table but at the end of the day you will still get people coming.I am just thankful I don't work,don't have to work and don't want to work.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

If the article is published in Sur in English next week, I'll post the English version here (not that many prospective job searchers will probably read it).

We waited nearly 4 years after we'd bought our house here before we were able to move over permanently, as we were determined not to come until we wouldn't need to look for work. Nothing that's happened since has changed my view that having to find a job here (or having to work all hours for a pittance) is something I wouldn't want to have to do. I'm just sorry that so many Spanish people have no choice.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> I'm just sorry that so many Spanish people have no choice.


Which is why we try to help those who want to go elsewhere to get work by giving them language tuition at extremely low rates 5€/!½ hour (=3.33 € per hour).


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

baldilocks said:


> Which is why we try to help those who want to go elsewhere to get work by giving them language tuition at extremely low rates 5€/!½ hour (=3.33 € per hour).


But you teach in groups most of the time, don't you?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> But you teach in groups most of the time, don't you?


Frequently singles because, especially if they are mature students, they have very different needs and start from different levels. The youngest, at present is 14 and struggling at school because the teacher is Spanish and has a poor level of diction and poor grammar; the oldest is 57 and learning French because he needs it to try to get a job in Switzerland (he has the job but it depends on his getting to a sufficient proficiency in French. SWMBO teaches also at the village academy and also at the one in Alcalá la Real.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I know that I am possibly looking at a quite different employment prospect (as opposed to picking olives I mean), but I have recently started looking at employment opportunities in both Spain and UK as I plan to move back to Europe next year, and it is clear that the crisis seems to have had quite a different impact in both countries.

Job opportunities are few and far between in Spain, but when they do arise, the salaries that I am being offered aren't that far from what I was earning when I left in 2013.

However, in the UK, there are loads of opportunities, but the salaries being offered are lower even that when I left the UK over 10 years ago.

As it stands, I actually think I will earn more in Spain than in the UK (which suits me just fine), if I can find the right job, in the right place at the right time....


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## mike kelly (Aug 12, 2009)

I would move to Barcelona if I thought I could earn 1000 euros per month net. I do speak fluent Spanish, Catalan, German and French. How do you reckon my chances are? I should add that I am 45 years old with a mortgage free property in Barcelona.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

mike kelly said:


> I would move to Barcelona if I thought I could earn 1000 euros per month net. I do speak fluent Spanish, Catalan, German and French. How do you reckon my chances are? I should add that I am 45 years old with a mortgage free property in Barcelona.


I know a few people who earn well over 1000€ as translators. Most of the work is online so they work from home. It is hard work apparently, and you need to build up a client base of course. but it can be done.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

mike kelly said:


> I would move to Barcelona if I thought I could earn 1000 euros per month net. I do speak fluent Spanish, Catalan, German and French. How do you reckon my chances are? I should add that I am 45 years old with a mortgage free property in Barcelona.


How many hours a week do you want to work? Between freelance translations/random work and teaching around 30 in-class hours (long days) it is totally doable if you have a good reputation and get word-of-mouth working in your favor.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

When I arrived in Spain I worked in a call cantre (requiring English native speakers) and it was a "jornada intensiva" starting at 8:00 am so I was finished by 16:00.
That allowed me to teach in the evenings to top up my income. I was earning about 1000€ / month with that, and that was 11 years ago so it should be possible now.
But as elenetxu said, you have to be prepared to put in the hours. I was out of the house from 7:00 am to 22:00 Monday to Thursday (I didn't teach on Fridays) and had lunch (a sandwich) whilst driving from the call centre to my first class, to achieve this.
I was not "living the dream"


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## mike kelly (Aug 12, 2009)

Well, I have never worked as a teacher or translator. I "could" work in a call centre (40 hours a week) but am concerned that my age wuld put employers off as call centres tend to be staffed by young people. I have previous call centre experience from 15 years ago.


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