Pension spending hits a new record, growing 6% in August, bringing the average salary to €1,507.

The August payroll payment sets a new record for pension spending. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported this Tuesday that the budget allocated to contributory retirement benefits amounted to €9.954 billion , 6.1% of the amount paid in August 2024. This increase is due to the increase in recipients and the revaluation of payrolls with the CPI, which has translated into a 4.4% increase in the average retirement pension, which amounts to €1,507.55.

The amounts allocated to workers who have ended their professional careers account for almost three-quarters of the expenditure on contributory pensions, although the total rises to €13.62 billion when including pensions for widowhood, permanent disability, orphanhood, and family members from the contributory system. These tend to be smaller, so the average pension under this scheme stood at €1,312.9 per month in August.

The budget allocated to permanent disability payrolls is the one that has grown the most compared to the same period in 2024, specifically increasing by 10.5% to €1,252.6 million, while the department headed by Elma Saiz seeks to find solutions to the increase in temporary disability leaves, which employers' organizations have identified as the main problem facing the labor market in recent months.

Spending on widow's pensions grew by 4.1% to €2.198 billion, on pensions for family members by 6.5% to €36.5 million, and on orphan's pensions by 4%, totaling €178.8 million. All of these pensions, along with retirement pensions, incorporate the 2.8% revaluation applied in accordance with the average CPI for 2024 and the 6% or 9% increase established for minimum pensions.

Overall, Social Security has paid 10.3 million contributory pensions in the last month, a figure 1.3% higher than last year. At the same time, the number of recipients has grown to 9.38 million, 1.6% more than in August 2024.

The Ministry has reported that 215,971 retirements have been registered as of July, of which 11.4% are already delayed . This refers to people who decided to retire after reaching the legal retirement age, something the Ministry attributes to the incentives introduced in the latest pension reform (a lump sum at retirement, an increase in the pension amount, or a mixed pension).

"This change reflects the impact of the delay incentives in effect since 2022 and the reconfiguration of the early retirement pension framework. As a result, the average retirement age stands at 65.3 years, compared to 64.4 years in 2019," explains the Department of Social Security. However, as this newspaper reported, men continue to retire before 65, so it is women who push the average above this threshold, with an average of 65.8 years.

New retirement benefits are, on average, higher. According to data from July (the latest available), they average €1,613, with the highest amounts for pensioners from the General Social Security Scheme, to which salaried employees contribute, reaching €1,722.5 per month. This creates a significant gap with self-employed workers, who receive an average of €1,010 per pension, a difference that the reform introduced in 2022 aims to address.