According to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), this represents a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, slowing down compared to the increase recorded at the end of 2024.

“The average monthly gross total remuneration per worker (per job position) increased by 5.3%, to €1,525, in the quarter ending in March 2025, compared to the same period in 2024,” the statistics office reports, in a highlight published this morning. In the last quarter of 2024, the average remuneration had increased by 6.4%, which means that the beginning of 2025 was synonymous with a slowdown.

The total remuneration includes not only the base salary, but also, in particular, the meal allowance and overtime.

It is therefore composed of two components. The basic component which, as the name suggests, only covers the basic salary. And the regular component, which adds other regular remuneration components to the base salary, namely food assistance.

In the first quarter, the base component increased, in annual terms, by 5.1% to 1,270 euros, while the regular component rose by 5.4% compared to a year ago, reaching 1,356 euros. In both cases, there was a slowdown compared to the increases that had been recorded at the end of 2024.

Of these increases (in total, basic and regular remuneration), however, a part was absorbed by the increase in prices. Hence, the INE states that, in real terms, the average monthly gross remuneration increased by 2.9% and its regular and basic components increased by 3.1% and 2.8%.

“Compared to the quarter ending in December 2024, there was a slowdown in prices (from 2.6% to 2.3%) and a slowdown in real wages (from 3.4% to 2.8% in the case of basic wages, for example),” notes the statistics office.

On the other hand, with regard to the differences between sectors, it should be noted that it was the activities of “agriculture, animal production, hunting, forestry and fishing” that recorded the largest increase in average total remuneration (7.9% to 970 euros). This was, however, the sector with the lowest average salary.

Given the difference between the public and private sectors, the data shows that salaries increased more in the State (6.3% versus 5.1%).