Civil service exams or the grind: the generation fleeing private sector
Why employed young Spaniards on low wages are rushing to take civil service exams: real salaries, housing costs, and the risk of betting on the State.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Civil service exams or the grind: the generation fleeing private sector
A group of friends between 35 and 40, with stable jobs, are studying for civil service exams at the same time. It's not an exception: the phenomenon spreads like an oil slick among professionals who have tasted the private sector and found it indigestible. The strategy is to claim unemployment if you're laid off and keep studying with savings. Some go further: a salesman deceives his company saying he's visiting clients and stays home to study. Brutal, but nobody blames them.
The salary that doesn't offset the cost of living
The decision to take civil service exams is not a whim: it's an economic calculation. A newly hired C1 civil servant in the AGE earns between 1,200 and 1,250 euros net per month, far from the 1,800 some imagine. In Madrid, getting a C1 without owning a home pushes you into poverty. That's why many choose Galicia or small towns: with a starting salary of 1,900 euros, a flat near Santiago rents for 400-500 euros. The cost differential between Madrid and a mid-sized city can exceed 3,000 euros per month for a typical family.
Competition: Gen Z vs. veterans
In academies, Gen Z studies in their own way: outlines, robo de datos, little concentration. Out of every 30 students, only 4 make it. But the number of positions has skyrocketed: the last TAI call offered 1,000 places and the cutoff score was around 30%. It's not rare to see engineers earning 4,000 euros abroad preparing to return to Spain as teachers. There are also cases of STEM professionals who, after years of grinding, have thrown in the towel and gone into hospitality or as kitchen assistants.
The risk of betting on the State
The underlying debate is whether the State is a reliable employer in the long term. Some argue that public spending is unsustainable: debt over GDP, although it fell from 120% to 101%, remains high in absolute terms. The table shown in the discussion, with data from 2010 to 2026, indicates that debt grows every year in nominal value and nominal GDP eats up the ratio, but the fiscal dynamics are increasingly burdensome. Others point out that 40% of the administration will retire in the coming years, which guarantees new positions and stability.
Funciovago or grinder: two philosophies
There are those who defend the 'funciovago' model: endure 10-15 years sharing a flat in shitty destinations to end up in the desired destination living like a king. And those who, from the experience of exile, say the opposite: first secure a position, and when the State collapses you can emigrate. In between are those who predict a future for Spain where big cities will have well-paid Spaniards in the private sector and the rest will be civil servants on perversos wages, while low-skilled jobs are filled by immigrants.
Take the exam or die
The mantra is repeated in the last messages of the thread: 'Take the exam or die' and 'The latin have come to support the funcis'. The discussion has become more political and less personal over the 160 days it lasted. Skepticism about the viability of the State mixes with the certainty that, for now, a permanent position is still the best job security. While the productive class becomes extinct between AI and global competition, fiscal coercion and public employment seem the only refuge. Or not.
What nobody has managed to answer is whether the State that promises the paycheck will be the same one 30 years from now when the bill comes due. But in the short term, the decision is clear: better to be a paguitero than a grinder.
Related debates on the forum
A group of friends between 35 and 40, with stable jobs, are studying for civil service exams at the same time. It's not an exception: the phenomenon spreads like an oil slick among professionals who have tasted the private sector and found it indigestible. The strategy is to claim unemployment if you're laid off and keep studying with savings. Some go further: a salesman deceives his company saying he's visiting clients and stays home to study. Brutal, but nobody blames them.
The salary that doesn't offset the cost of living
The decision to take civil service exams is not a whim: it's an economic calculation. A newly hired C1 civil servant in the AGE earns between 1,200 and 1,250 euros net per month, far from the 1,800 some imagine. In Madrid, getting a C1 without owning a home pushes you into poverty. That's why many choose Galicia or small towns: with a starting salary of 1,900 euros, a flat near Santiago rents for 400-500 euros. The cost differential between Madrid and a mid-sized city can exceed 3,000 euros per month for a typical family.
Competition: Gen Z vs. veterans
In academies, Gen Z studies in their own way: outlines, robo de datos, little concentration. Out of every 30 students, only 4 make it. But the number of positions has skyrocketed: the last TAI call offered 1,000 places and the cutoff score was around 30%. It's not rare to see engineers earning 4,000 euros abroad preparing to return to Spain as teachers. There are also cases of STEM professionals who, after years of grinding, have thrown in the towel and gone into hospitality or as kitchen assistants.
The risk of betting on the State
The underlying debate is whether the State is a reliable employer in the long term. Some argue that public spending is unsustainable: debt over GDP, although it fell from 120% to 101%, remains high in absolute terms. The table shown in the discussion, with data from 2010 to 2026, indicates that debt grows every year in nominal value and nominal GDP eats up the ratio, but the fiscal dynamics are increasingly burdensome. Others point out that 40% of the administration will retire in the coming years, which guarantees new positions and stability.
Funciovago or grinder: two philosophies
There are those who defend the 'funciovago' model: endure 10-15 years sharing a flat in shitty destinations to end up in the desired destination living like a king. And those who, from the experience of exile, say the opposite: first secure a position, and when the State collapses you can emigrate. In between are those who predict a future for Spain where big cities will have well-paid Spaniards in the private sector and the rest will be civil servants on perversos wages, while low-skilled jobs are filled by immigrants.
Take the exam or die
The mantra is repeated in the last messages of the thread: 'Take the exam or die' and 'The latin have come to support the funcis'. The discussion has become more political and less personal over the 160 days it lasted. Skepticism about the viability of the State mixes with the certainty that, for now, a permanent position is still the best job security. While the productive class becomes extinct between AI and global competition, fiscal coercion and public employment seem the only refuge. Or not.
What nobody has managed to answer is whether the State that promises the paycheck will be the same one 30 years from now when the bill comes due. But in the short term, the decision is clear: better to be a paguitero than a grinder.
Related debates on the forum
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (856 replies).
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