Asturian bar owners face staff shortage due to low wages

Asturian bar owners face staff shortage due to low wages

An Asturian business owner posts a job ad for waiters, but no one shows up for interviews. The complaint is widespread in the sector: "people no longer want to work." However, the data reveal a different reality. While a beer in central Lugo costs 3.50 euros and water 2.80, offered salaries hover around 1,150 euros for 50 weekly hours. The gap with the Minimum Vital Income (IMV) –around 1,300 euros in some cases– has narrowed to the point where working barely compensates many.

The real salary no one publishes

Job offers in Asturian hospitality often omit economic conditions. When specified, figures like 1,150 net euros for 50-hour shifts with only one day off appear. "If they offered 2,000 net euros for 40 hours, they would find people," summarizes a recurring opinion. The problem is not a lack of labor, but the gap between pay and demands. Those who have worked in the sector for years recall that when bars needed staff, they offered better salaries than competitors. "You go to the bar next door and offer them more; that's how it has always been," explains an experienced entrepreneur.

The comparison with the IMV is inevitable. Those who prefer not to work argue that with 1,300 euros in benefits without physical strain or split shifts, the economic difference is almost null. "If I'm going to be poor, I'll stay home," reads one opinion. The debate goes beyond laziness: it is a rational cost-benefit calculation.

Customers pay more and waiters earn the same as 30 years ago

While consumption costs soar –a beer at 3.50 euros, water at 2.80–, hospitality salaries have stagnated. "Salaries remain the same as more than 30 years ago," some workers denounce. Inflation is reflected in product prices, but not in employee wages. The business margin is eaten by rent (rent-seeking, as several analyses point out) and energy hikes, while the waiter's purchasing power continues to diminish.

Additionally, qualification has been devalued. The wage gap between a laborer and a supervisor has narrowed so much that "nobody wants to take a problem home." Taking responsibility for a few hundred euros more does not compensate for the stress. The result is a talent drain to other sectors or self-employment.

The future: automation or improved conditions

Amid the staff shortage, three scenarios emerge: owners work more hours and reduce capacity; improve labor conditions and publish them transparently; or automate service with robots –an option already tested in some countries, but still marginal in Spain. "In the future, it will be the norm," predict the most tech-savvy.

Meanwhile, a stream of opinion holds that the problem is systemic. "We have been simmering on low heat for 30 years towards impoverishment," writes someone who antiestéticars bars will become a luxury for upper classes. The surprising fact is that, although leisure demand remains high –people with money willing to spend–, the supply of workers to serve them has evaporated. Not due to a lack of people, but because the price of serving is no longer paid.

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In Asturias, the slogan "there are no waiters" hides a basic math problem: when net salary approaches social benefits, the labor market stops functioning. Those who lament the lack of candidates should look at the fine print of their offers first.