The middle class has been, for decades, the true pillar that sustains social and economic stability in Spain, standing as the great buffer between the extremes of wealth and poverty. However, today lives its greatest identity and survival crisis due to the Labor precariousnesslack of opportunities and High housing prices and basic services.
This is supported by Santiago Niño Becerra, one of the most popular economists on the national scene, during an interview for Newsstrobajo. “The middle class in Spain is disappearing at vertigo speed,” he says, convinced that more and more are the difficulty of reaching the end of the month.
“It was an invention after World War II to ensure economic growth”
To explain where this phenomenon comes from, the economist looks back. “The middle class, as we know it, was an invention after World War II to ensure economic growth and social peace”, where those who had greater purchasing power “agreed to pay more taxes.” However, he says that from the 80s, when industrial robotics begins, “that middle class begins to be less and less necessary.”
He adds that “the old lower classes amounted because there was guaranteed work and wages grew,” something that does not happen today.
“That is over. The middle class we know in Spain is being reduced and only the upper middle class will remain”
Fatal consequences
Becerra insists that, although this phenomenon is not exclusive to Spain, here is aggravated by job precariousness, stagnant wages and the lack of real protection policies.
In this way, the setback of the middle class has effects that go far beyond the pocket of citizens. The loss of this social class could be the reflection of an economy that has ceased to guarantee social ascent and security, so its end could open the door to a Spain with less opportunities and greater social tension.