Relationship between Inflation and the Comparative Evolution of Wages in Industry and Services within the Spanish Economy

A large body of empirical literature ascribes a high degree of responsibility by the service sector for the difficulties in lowering inflation in the Spanish economy in the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the fact that most of the branches in this sector are characterised by their lower ability to increase productivity, service wages have increased at a similar rate to those of other activities that, however, have been able to generate constant growth in productivity. On the other hand, tertiary activities have been able to transmit the growth in wage costs to prices without this having significant repercussions on the amount demanded as they are more protected from international competition. In this context, the reasons why service growth is accused of being one of the key causes of price growth are understandable. Nevertheless, throughout the1990s, important changes have taken place due to the technological revolution of modern economies that have created a doubt that services are still for the most partly protected from competition. This article makes a comparative study of the evolution of wages in industry and services, finding initial evidence that tertiary wages are presenting in their evolution the lowest productivity of most of tertiary activities pressurised by greater competition, which is lowering the incidence on inflation of the sector and of the economy in general.