The Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) expressed this Thursday its "deep concern" regarding the final data of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) corresponding to July, which confirms a "new deterioration of the purchasing power of families."
The CPI increased its year-on-year rate by four tenths in July, reaching 3.6%, the highest level since May 2024, according to the final figures released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The agency has revised its preliminary estimate upward by one tenth, which had placed the indicator at 3.5%.
According to USO, this rise in inflation is due to structural problems in the productive and consumption model in Spain. Transportation and fuels lead the price increase, with an annual rise of 6.2% due to the sharp increase in fuels and lubricants, while housing and supplies have increased by 5.7%, driven by the rise in electricity and gas.
The union adds that the boost from seasonal tourism also "makes life more expensive," as recreational activities and tourist packages rose by 2.3% just in the last month. Additionally, the persistence of core inflation, which stands at 3%, confirms for USO that the rise in prices "is no longer temporary, but structural."
In this context, the discounts on clothing and footwear or the temporary drop in fruit are, in the organization's view, clearly insufficient to counteract the widespread increase in the prices of other basic goods and services.
In light of this scenario, USO argues that having a job in Spain has ceased to be a shield against poverty. As indicated by the union's general secretary, Joaquín Pérez, in a statement, while the survival shopping basket -- food, electricity, and transportation -- increases at rates close to or exceeding 5% and 6%, the wages agreed upon in collective bargaining barely advance by an average of 3.02%.
"Work is worth less and less," Pérez has warned, emphasizing that this gap between prices and wages causes a constant reduction in purchasing power and pushes thousands of households with stable jobs to swell the ranks of so-called working poor.