Rambling post about Spain
roXXo said:
Interesting.
What is the average wage in Spain?
Tax rates?
Pension benefits?
Unemployment levels?
How is the health service funded?
Is there free health care?
Crime situation? Basque separatist terrorists?
Do the Spanish object to foreigners taking their jobs, houses etc.?
Do the rich get richer and the poor poorer in Spain.
Are there not any rich entrepreneurs?
Are there not folk living in abject poverty?
Are there any downsides to living in Spain?
I work in the oil industry in the UK. Do you know what remuneration packages are like in Spain compared to here?
Is there a body like the HSE to help protect me while at work?
Do you know how many people are killed in Spanish industry compared to the UK?
Do you know how many folk are killed on the roads in Spain?
Are there any downsides to living in Spain?
Should I move there?
A lot of questions Graphite, I know, but Spain obviously "works" for you.
Does it "work" for the poor as well?
:beer:
Sorry? long post!!
Hi Roxxo.
I will try and answer the best I can, but please bear in mind that the following is only a personal view made by an extranjero (foreigner) and I couldn?t possibly comment on the intricacies of wage structures, HSE or remuneration packages of the oil industry in the UK let alone in Spain!!! Dirty Sanches would be able to speak with far more authority than I can.
Average wage; unknown but the average local wage is about 200 euros per week.
Tax Rates; I assume you mean PAYE, I think it?s less than the UK but being self employed here is much dearer, but I believe this includes health cover for the immediate family.
Pension Benefits; Loosely you have to have worked twelve years in Spain to get a Spanish pension if you start work as a youngster, but for example if your working life were 40 years and you work 30 years in the UK and 10 years in Spain contributing officially in both countries then at retirement age the UK will pay three quarters of your pension and the Spanish government the other quarter. If you are a pensioner receiving the winter fuel allowance in the UK and subsequently move to Spain you are still eligible. I think Health service is funded by the government in a similar way to the UK
There is free health care for Spanish residents who have contributed to the system but the care in hospitals is different here with some hospitals expecting the family to be contributing to the care of the patients needs (washing hair etc) whilst nurses nurse if you see what I mean.
The European laws are changing all the time, at the moment if you are a foreign Spanish resident (like us) as opposed to a Spanish National (which we will never be) you get your local health care under a reciprocal arrangement but hospital care has to be paid for which is why you need private health insurance if you are under pensionable age, although you no longer have to have it to become a resident which you once did.
I have been to the doctors in the village as both of my shoulders are knackered and had X rays then cortizone injections in both shoulders without cost though I had to pay for the cortizone at the chemist which was only 1euro.
Dental charges are similar to the UK, but there is no ?national health? dentist system here and everyone has to pay from the moment they need dental care which is why the Spanish in general have awful teeth.
An eye test here is about 12 euros and glasses are cheaper, some people have their eyes tested in the UK and get the prescription filled here and save plenty of money. Lazer treatment is much cheaper here and you don?t have to wait too long.
Crime situation; considering Spain is 5 times bigger than the UK I think there are more bomb explosions in the UK, we live in a village and crime in villages is at a minimum, on the coast it is a different matter and in places like Torrevieja the statistics are through the roof, they say every household has been broken into at least once. I'm sad to say its mainly Brits v Brits too! Being so close to Africa where we are the Moroccan drug problem is rife on the coast. ETA and the Basques are way up country to us and don?t seem to play any part here.
Though I have to say kids in our village can play in the road and walk round the market square quite safely till midnight if they wish as the atmosphere is very family orientated and everyone cares for everyone else (us included if you make the effort to integrate).
Do they mind us taking their jobs and houses? The simple answer is no. They don?t mind asking inflated prices for houses for example to the ?rich? English which is what they think we are. As for jobs, on the coasts the English employ just as many people as the Spanish do but vary few British get jobs destined for the Spanish as few Brits speak fluent Spanish.For example we have a supermarket chain called Mercadona.. slightly less than the size of Tesco?s I suppose and they were recruiting for their warehouses but the British applicants were not considered till the Spanish workforce had been exhausted.. that?s just the way it is.
Do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Yes I suppose they do, but that?s world wide don?t you think?
Are there not any rich entrepreneurs? Naturally but they are worldwide too, the Chelsea owner Bramovich or what ever his name is has got a ?35 million yacht in Puerta Banus harbour and some of the big houses on the hill at San Pedro with helicopter pads can fetch 15 million euros each about ?10 millon stirling? but in the UK ther are the likes of Richard Branson etc.. wealth and the lack of it is an international thing.
Are there not people living in poverty? Yes as before, but again that?s world wide.
Are there any down sides to living in Spain? Yes of course there are, but you could pick faults with wherever you live .. obviously we found fault with the UK, that?s why we are here! The Spanish are possibly the noisiest race on the planet and you never really know the true meaning of ma?ana till you live here, they are totally obsessed with paperwork and clueless about mathematics but all this makes life ?interesting? to say the least!
Road deaths I am guessing are higher than the UK but less than Italy, Bombay or Cairo! I don?t know the exact figures, just having been caught myself in by a Gatso (149 klms in a 100 klms zone) I can see that they are creeping in and no doubt the death figures will fall as they seem to be in France where they are Gatso mad too.
Does it work for the poor. I shouldn?t think so, but it doesn?t work for the poor in the UK unless they know how to work the system. When we came to live in Spain we thought the Spanish would be poor in the villages, how wrong we were. The village we live in is well off because of the olive harvest, I suppose for us Andalucia is one of the better parts of the country to live though the Spanish view things differently. We found this place more by luck than judgement and time and common sense have served us well.
Should I move there? Reading your post I think the answer to you should be ?No?. I could fill loads of pages on why you might want to move here but reading between the lines I wouldn?t think it would be for you.
Why it works for us?. We are economic migrants.. we came here because the money we have goes further, as a rule of thumb what you pay a pound for in the UK you will pay a euro over here so the cost of living is about two thirds of the cost in the UK.
A few questions you did not ask.
Council tax is a pittance here? we pay a year what you are paying in a month. Food is so much cheaper as is petrol. You don?t pay road tax per se but the council charge is about 70 euros pa to use the roads.
There is a swimming pool in every village, here there are 4 banks and just about every thing you need to buy for day to day living.
The Costa del Sol averages 300 days sunshine a year, and as for bike riding I think we have some of the best roads in Europe.
If you were even considering a move here or anywhere else abroad you would need to do major research and be prepared to be adaptable.. jump on a plane and come and see for yourself.. we have access to plenty of places for you to stay.
Bet you wish you'd never asked :}
Paul
,,, started at 7.30am finished at 10.30am,today,, meet different people, work outside in the fresh air ,see the changing seasons,,,walk average 10,000 steps a week,, keeps me fit.
