In 1955, Extremadura was the community with the lowest salaries while Madrid had the highest. Today that distribution is identical. In almost 70 years, the economy and society have evolved, but the order that each region occupied during the Franco regime is the same as it is today. Andalusia, for example, was and is the territory with the most unemployed.
The director of Fedea, Ángel de la Fuente, who has built the historical series, affirms that “changes are slow and the ordering does not usually change”, which is why the poor and rich regions remain the same over the years. The average salary in 1955 in Extremadura was 78 euros (12,978 pesetas) compared to 28,560 euros in 2021. In Madrid it went from 184 euros (30,615 pesetas) to 38,389 euros. What can be seen is that although the differences remain, they are not so large because the distance is reducing, but very slowly.
Why does Extremadura continue to be where the least is charged?
“Because of the economic structure, since it continues as one of the communities with the greatest weight in the agricultural sector and less presence in the industrial sector,” responds Felisa Becerra, economist at Analistas Económicos de Andalucía. In the countryside, salaries are much lower than in industry or in a large part of the service sector. In Catalonia, in the 50s, the average remuneration was 156 and today it is 35,877. Just as it happened in the case of Andalusia, Catalonia has not managed to surpass the capital in wages. The professor of applied economics at the UAB, Josep Oliver, explains that what is happening in Spain is not different from what is happening in the United States, where the differences between rich and poor states persist, or in Europe, where southern countries continue to some distance from those of the north.
From the statistics it also stands out that Andalusia throughout the years –with the exception of the years 1982 and 1983– is the community with the largest volume of unemployed. In 1955, 43 out of every 100 Spanish unemployed were in Andalusia while today there are 25 out of 100. Madrid was the second with the highest number of unemployed (14%) while in 2021 it accumulated 11% and is behind Catalonia with 13%. 66 years ago, Catalonia was in fifth place behind the aforementioned Andalusia and Madrid; and also Valencia and Extremadura. Oliver warns that the migratory flows during the last decades (both of Spaniards and in recent years of immigrants) explain these differences. In fact, part of the unemployed in Andalusia, Extremadura or Aragon during the Franco regimes were taken over by other territories as a result of immigration.
Catalonia was the community that had the most unemployment in the year of the World Cup in Spain 82 and the following. The economists consulted explain that it was due to the industrial conversion that the community suffered, especially in the textile sector. In 1982, in Catalonia there were 380,000 unemployed compared to 353,000 in Andalusia. In 2021, Catalonia closed with 450,000 unemployed and Andalusia almost double. Becerra once again blames the productive structure with the greatest weight in agriculture. The Andalusian economist details that when the unemployment rate in Andalusia is compared with Madrid or Catalonia, the differences are only a couple of points.
Fedea’s statistics also show the weight of each community in GDP over the years. The robust stability of the Catalan economy is surprising, as it remains unalterably around 19%. In addition, it had always held the leadership position –with few exceptions– until in 2017, in the midst of the independence process, Madrid surpassed the Catalan community until today, which continues as the locomotive of the Spanish economy.
Madrid, on the other hand, has witnessed spectacular growth, but not at the expense of Catalonia, but of the rest of the communities. In 1955, Madrid represented 11.7% and in 2021, 19.4%. Some of the countries that have lost the most are Castilla y León (from 8.3% to 4.8%) or the Basque Country (from 7.4% to 5.9%). De la Fuente explains that the main reason is the loss of population in these communities.
