When social cohesion fails in the salary data, the failure of the supposed economic convergence policies for overseas territories such as the Canary Islands is exposed.
In 2025, the Canary Islands archipelago is among the 50 regions or communities with the lowest average gross salary in the entire European Union, out of a total of 240 that make up the territorial landscape of the EU.
We can affirm that we are, therefore, at the tail end of the European Union, and not only within the Spanish State.
We are among the poorest communities, with the lowest purchasing power, and after more than 20 consecutive years in the EU, with a declining per capita income, that is, it decreases year after year despite the annual economic growth in the Archipelago. This salary situation is structural and distances us from the much-touted convergence with the European Union, the opportunities for progress, and the quality of life of the local Canarian population.
Furthermore, the Canary Islands is one of the poorest ORs within the group of famous Outermost Regions that have been sold to us as the panacea and solution to our endemic problems, despite being an economy that grows annually due to unsustainable tourism growth, unable to pay decent salaries in accordance with the cost of living in the islands.
The salary gap between the Canary Islands and the European Union - including Spain - is very concerning.
We are talking about an average salary of 24,994 euros per year compared to the EU average of 39,377 euros. A gap of 36.5% opens up, which remains even after being corrected for purchasing power.
This situation is not a temporary anomaly. It is the concrete expression of a dependent economic structure, a limited legal fit in the European and Spanish architecture, and a lack of effective tools to legislate to close historical territorial inequalities.
The truth is that the Canary Islands is not converging, it is trapped.
The current economic model condemns us to low productivity and a very high dependence on the economic monoculture of tourism.
We have a high tourism specialization that accounts for 34% of GDP. An economic sector in the hands of foreign ownership, including tour operators, American and European investment groups, and Spanish hotel chains that, as a lobby, set pressure strategies in vital economic visions for the Archipelago.
We have a dependence of such magnitude that it implies a low structural remuneration in labor-intensive sectors with little added value.
The business argument that sustains this structural salary deficit is the need to compete with more economical tourist destinations due to lower labor costs. However, the selling prices per stay in the Canary Islands have not stopped growing.
In other words, it is not a matter of competition but the result of an extractive economy in favor of external interests.
On the other hand, we find that we have a weak industrial fabric with little R&D&I. This implies a low or no capacity to generate technical or qualified employment that adds greater value to the economy.
The condition of Archipelago, in turn, implies structural deficiencies that have not been adequately addressed, which entail higher logistics, supply, energy, and scale costs that increase economic activity without effective compensation, as our economic model is constrained by the policies of the European Union and the decisions of the Spanish State, which controls and limits the true progress we need.
There is a significant mismatch between training and employment, with over-training and chronic underemployment, talent drain, and functional precariousness that has not been resolved with effective decisions despite the years that have passed.
All of this is the result of a Canarian economy trapped in dependence and precarious employment, without its own regulatory levers to transform that reality.
The situation in which the Canary Islands finds itself has economic and cohesion implications that are evident, as there is a systemic failure of the principle of territorial convergence of Art. 174 of the TFEU.
We are at risk of chronic economic marginalization as an overseas territory.
We present an income deficit that impacts consumption, investment, innovation, and well-being, along with a salary gap that erodes long-term competitiveness.
We urgently need to address brave strategic proposals to reverse the situation we are going through, or we will be condemning future generations for life, as we are already doing.
An urgent revision of the legal-economic framework is necessary. We must assume formulas of "special association" or status similar to the OCT (Overseas Countries and Territories) model that allows the Canary Islands to have differentiated fiscal, labor, and regulatory capacity, adapted to its real condition.
We need to have a final instrument linked to the stable hiring of technical and professional profiles in strategic sectors (energy transition, digital innovation, bioeconomy, etc.).
It is time to design a strategy for productive diversification in a tourism-dependent territory like the Archipelago, based on the "smart specialization" model, to reorient part of the GDP towards high value-added sectors with an impact on salaries and quality of employment.
We must be able to establish regional minimum wage criteria linked to business incentives, aligned with the cost of living levels and the objective of salary convergence, giving priority to the hiring of the local population.
The Canary Islands does not need more subsidies, it needs strategic autonomy, which is different.
We are talking about decision-making and action capacity. About not being subjected to continental policies that have nothing to do with its condition as an overseas territory, with totally differentiated needs and particularities.
Not accepting this evident reality is to completely ignore the potential of the Canary Islands and its need to establish a broad capacity for self-government that allows it to adapt with differentiation to the global economy, promoting the local and being able to legislate according to its real need.
Without real capacity for self-government, we will not be able to adequately build our home with pillars that support it strongly over time.
The Canary Islands can be a key piece in the reconfiguration of the European economic model towards resilience, diversification, and sustainability. But for this, it needs more than support programs or final funds. We need regulatory space, effective tools, and policies adapted and designed from here, not from outside for interests alien to our own.
The salary gap that we measure today is not only an economic problem, it is a political limit to the European project of cohesion.
The Canary Islands cannot continue in a chronic salary periphery while being a net contributor to the European tourism model.
Reversing this situation requires political courage, institutional and economic realism.
We are clear about it. And you?
