As a non- Spanish , living in Spain, I would have to disagree slightly. The minimum legal wage here in Spain is around 614€, in France it is around 1500€.
If I drive 90km to Perpignan the supermarket prices are around 15% less than here in Girona, the rent for an apartment, around the same.
If you happen to be unemployed in France, you would certainly not be asked to pay for books for your children in school, a meal in the school canteen would not cost 7€, you would have a reasonable level of healthcare, you would not have your electric cut off the same day as you paid the bill (late but paid) in the middle of Winter, if you had been naive enough to take a loan to buy your house for twice the amount it was REALLY worth, you would possibly have more chance to hang on to it, rather than to be shafted by a bank ,that was bailed out by your Govt (at YOUR expense) & to lose your house & still end up owing the full amount to the bank.
This is what I see around me in this country, Ah, but we have the sun. . . . . I agree, 21c in the middle/end of Jan is very nice, BUT, for most it is little compensation.
Unemployment 22%, 18-25 year olds 45? % or thereabouts.
It is not for this that those still in employment have to accept slavery levels of compensation, 800€ a month for many in my region, with rents of around 500 & utilities of 200€ on top, or you think we should return to the days when we tipped our caps at "the Guvnor " & were happy to have some crumbs.
Many things wrong in Spanish society, the principal ones being that they should never have been allowed to join the €, should always have maintained a devalued currency to attract the tourists, & should stop pretending that they have ever been a first-line European nation rather than a (until very) recently peasant /subsistence economy.
Property speculation & telling people lies about their REAL economy works for a while, but hurts when the truth inevitably surfaces.
It is not for this that those in professional positions, be they pilot or Air Traffic Controllers, should have to accept a pittance of a wage if their new (false ) economy doesn't offer anything to someone on the 2nd rate salaries they are told should now be the norm.
When the politicians accept to be paid in accordance with the days of the peseta (or better still in accordance with their performance
) they can maybe expect normal people to participate in this manipulative charade.