Forum user claims Spanish purchasing power peaked between 1984 and 1992

From the 80s to today: when Spanish wages bought more than now

The eighties were Spain’s best decade of the twentieth century. And no. The answer depends on the paycheck that came home and the neighborhood where one grew up, which is the rift running through a comparison as old as the Transition: whether the well-being of that Spain was real or just nostalgia from those who were twenty then and sixty now. One participant sums up the 80s in Spain in four words: industrial restructuring, terrorism, inflation, and unemployment. With that, they argue, there is plenty to discuss for a long time.

The peak of purchasing power situated between 1984 and 1992

Some claim, in the thread, that the historical maximum of the Spanish worker's buying capacity lies between 1984 and 1992. According to this view, never before—and probably never since—did an average salary go so far within the borders. The key was not in nominal wages but, according to their reading, in the fact that the country manufactured almost everything it consumed: excluding gasoline, much of daily spending was covered by domestic or Italian products. Imported goods, however, were prohibitive, and the peseta devalued with a frequency that turned any foreign whim into a luxury.

There is a domestic scene that illustrates that balance better than any graph. That of the mother sending her child to the aunt's house, with whom she does not speak, to ask for two thousand pesetas to pay the electricity bill. The basics—housing without sharing, water, electricity, tobacco—were attainable. The rest, not always. And the most sardonic detail of the period comes from a participant's memory: the boycott with which, according to their account, the Catalan cocoa brand tried to stop the foreign hazelnut cream, because the only acceptable chocolate spread was the local one.

Was Spain a rich country in the 80s?

For one participant, yes: in relative terms and during a specific stretch. According to their story, the country ranked as the 17th richest per capita in the world, with a homogeneous, cheap, open society hungry for modernity. Another participant argues that that homogeneity and prior social order explain part of the perceived atmosphere of freedom, both personally and informationally. It is worth remembering that it was also an unequal Spain, where the poorest suffered despite the accessibility of basic needs.

Another recurring argument is plurality. There were only two television channels, but some defend that there was more debate there than in the current lineup: programs like La Clave, by Balbín, are cited as examples of something unrepeatable today in public television.

The other side: violence, drugs, and precarious medicine

Those who bring the myth down from the pedestal do not dispute the pocketbook data; they dispute the quality of what was bought. A participant claims that food was mediocre, clothing too, cars were bad, and medicine lagged far behind current standards. Added to this is the account of a country where a football match could end with deaths in the stands and where knife-point robberies were part of the nightly routine, according to another forum user's testimony.

Arcade halls, temples of the era, were also the setting where, according to that same account, two strangers with lost gazes would stand next to a kid asking him for a game. Drug consumption also appears in the testimonies reviewing the decade. It is not a minor detail: any serious review of the decade must include terrorism and industrial adjustment in the same sentence as music and cinema.

Two channels, a Walkman, and nostalgia under suspicion

The cultural production of those years supports much of the narrative. In cinema: E.T., The NeverEnding Story, Alien, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Lethal Weapon, RoboCop, Blade Runner, The Goonies, Batman. On television: The A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., Cosmos documentaries, Vicky the Viking. At home: Casio watches, Amstrad and MSX computers, the Betamax with which the premiere of the decade's most famous music video was recorded.

It is argued that this creative wave relied on a generation—those born in the Anglo-Saxon baby boom—that reached its peak right then. From 2001 onwards, the cultural shift is placed, and some criticize current platforms for producing a huge volume of content marked, in their opinion, by political correctness. The discussion even reaches music: some compare the icons of the era with current urban genres without blushing.

The 90s as favorites and the decline starting from 2010

There is no unanimity. One school argues that the nineties were better in music, cars, and movies, with 1995 and 1999 as sacred territory. Another extends the good cycle until 2005 or 2008 before entering, they say, the dystopia. And some place the cut-off at 2010, with a fall that, according to this account, has not yet hit bottom.

If nostalgia is measured in purchasing power, the comparison favors the eighties and early nineties. If measured in medicine or access to technology, many testimonies concede the advantage to later decades. It is likely that in thirty years someone will open the same discussion about the 2010s, and be half-right. As we all are.