Making Money

[jennyshaw]

I just wondered how easy is to make a living in Spain, can work be found?
My other half is a Coded Welder do you think he could find a job to support us? The problem is that our place in Spain is rural, about 50 mins from Granada and about 1 hour 20 mins from Mojacar.
How do people survive in Spain, is it just on savings.

[katy]

I would like to know the answer to this too. They say that many young families who move out rent and spend the proceeds from their house in the UK and return when they run out of money. Sure some do make a good living but the general concensus on here is to not use Brit workers so it must be very difficult to find anything.

[daneinspain]

Im told its generally not that easy to find a job in Spain but depends very much on what type of job one is looking for and which area. I would generally be very weary of moving to the spain at this time, also we know of many stories of people whos dream in the sun failed miserably. If you have children I would very much advise against moving them into a rural area, they will have trouble integrating into a local school and a private school is likely to be very far away and expensive. You will also find you get bored in a rural area.

As for your case I would think that there would be high demand for a welder but welding is typically done by the Spanish tradesmen in this area anyway and Im unsure about their willingness to employ an foreigner but you would be better off looking before hand.

[toddcl]

Many Britt's make a living doing a number of jobs rather than one main job as in the UK. A lot of work used to be Black money [cash in hand] but the Spanish government is working on stopping this.

If he's a welder I would have thought that he could make a living doing just that. Spiral Stairs. fences, steel doors etc.

I don't think the Spanish will fall over themselves to give him a job, but He could make a living if he set up on his own.

[Shukran]

You get good and bad in Brits and Spanish, you just have to be selective and always go with recommendations.

We've just had a burglar alarm fitted by youngish Brits who moved to Spain a year ago to start up their own company doing just that. They were great - good price, efficient and knew what they were doing. People like them are in very short supply in this area, but really needed. Our local builder who does most things is another Brit and extremely well respected for his standard of work and prices etc - we wouldn't go anywhere else. Another neighbour (yes, a Brit) did welding for a living in the UK and is now making some rejas for us cheaper than we can get anywhere else. We've seen his standard of work because he made his own rejas, fencing and gates.

To date, the only time we felt that we were ripped off was by a Spanish tv chap fitting a new digital receiver in our previous rented cortijo.

If your work is good, competitive and you turn up when you say - then there's a good chance that you can make a reasonable living here.

[MarkF]

Have you children? If so I would not risk anything without guaranteed work or a position. When we decided to move to Spain I tried getting work and was spectacularly unsuccessful I tried the papers, on-line ads, agencies, I had a CV written by a local, friends tried to help, nothing!To be honest I was not in the least bit surprised.

I am an electrical engineer but a permanent position anywhere is a pipe dream, sure there is work to be had now and again for yourself but if you have a mortgage to pay that's not much good.

Labour rates per hour or day might also be a shock.

I think you can earn more money sat at a PC than trying to get by in Spain unless you have a desired skill and are very fortunate. I set up an online business and have enough income to make the move, not much compared to a good UK income but more than I could earn in a permanent position in Spain. Anybody can earn money from the web!

I hate putting a downer on things but it's the truth, you might, if you are lucky AND work very hard make enough to live on from your husbands trade.

The wait was worth it for me as I had a complete re-think and am moving to Asturias.

[Moving Soon]

Your husband has a transferable skill and, as has been said, if he can get one or two jobs and get himself known as someone whose work is of a high standard and reasonably priced then word of mouth will soon get around. The question is, whether the size of the market within a reasonable travelling distance is going to be sufficient to generate a living wage, all year round. I know a few people who do general building work but it is more to supplement their existing income than to rely on for all their living expenses.

If you live in a rural area (in any country including the UK, not just Spain) then work opportunities are always going to be more limited. Here in North West England I have travelled 25 miles each way to work for over 20 years (3+ hours per day commuting by public transport) as local jobs are few and far between and the ones that do exist are badly paid.

If you lived in an area which is more densely populated then there might be more opportunites, but of course there would also be likely to be more competition around.

Personally I decided I could not make the move to Spain until we were in a position to live off our capital until we start to draw our pensions, whilst my partner might be able to earn a living if he went back to his original trade of plumbing, I would struggle to find work as I don't have fluent Spanish, don't drive and don't want to work in a restaurant, bar or estate agency.

[jennyshaw]

Thanks for all of your help,
We don't have any school age children so i suppose that's one good thing.
My partner has done some stairs, fencing, gates etc. in the UK, so he would be okay making them in Spain also, its just getting the orders.
He changed our railings on on our balcony in Spain and got a lot of interest in them, and also got a comment that he would get some work because the local metal person was lazy.
But and it is a big BUT would he get enough work to be able to live in Spain, we won't know unless we give it a try, are we brave enough that's the question.

[country boy]

Unless you are prepared to go down the Self Employed route....forget it I'm afraid. Spanish Coded Welders down here would be un-employable in UK, your Hubby's skill would not be recognised; having said that, there is the Gibraltar option , they have a ship repairing facility there, and presumably better practices...might be worth a try...live in Spain, work in Gib

[MarkF]

Thanks for all of your help,
we won't know unless we give it a try, are we brave enough that's the question.

If you have capital to live off or a mortgage free home in the UK to rent out, then go for it. It's no big deal to return and you will have at least tried rather than have a load of "what if's " in your head.

If you don't have either of the above and are not prepared to lose financially if things go wrong, then don't go. IMO you have to wnat to go enough to be prepared to accept the consequences however expensive they might be!

[Alpujarra]

Something else to bear in mind are the self employed social security payments you will have to make regardless of whether you are making any money or not.

I read in the paper that they are due to go up by 30 Euros a month.

[kevin77]

Jenny, your topic was titled 'making money' thats different to 'making a living' or 'scraching a living' as is the case with many people who relocate to Andalucia and have to do stuff they wouldnt ever consider in the UK.
If you want to earn money in good working conditions with protected rights then you are in the ideal place in the UK, think yourself lucky.
Dont expect the same wages, hours or benefits in Andalucia, because it just isnt like that.

[Solysombra]

Agree with Kevin here, I've spent the last couple of months sorting out my new apartment in Spain (I thought I was retired, but that's another story) I've met some of the locals here, many of whom are renting, one guy told me that he was making trucksful of money selling property, several days after I saw him serving behind the bar of a local pub I think if you don't have a substantial financial cushion here you will struggle.

[ian.wilson]

Jenny, your topic was titled 'making money' thats different to 'making a living'...

As a contracted employee in Spain my benifits a far better than in the UK, Spanish law protects employees much more stringent than in the UK. A coleague if mine was recently unfairly dismissed here in Spain, the Spanish courts dealt with it in a couple of months. The company was told to either re-employ or pay him nearly €15,000. They paid him and he is now collecting Spanish dole (el paro) which is a percent of what his wage used to be.

The Spanish national health service are 10 times better than the UK as well. My partner was sent to a private clinic in Spain by a national health doctor and it did cost us a penny.

Trouble is you need a job with an Indefinido Contract, once you have this you are protected and recieve the sames benifits as a Spanish employee.

Regards
Ian

[katy]

Yeah...and there are many spanish people who dream of an indefinate contract.

[kevin77]

Might be true what you say Ian but jenny's husband is a guiri welder with probably little spanish - is he really going to get a contrato indefinido with the local metalworker? More likely he could pick up bits and pieces of cash in hand jobs with the expat community - that was what I meant by 'scratching a living'.

[ian.wilson]

Any employee in Spain contract or no contract can go to the local cc.oo union for advise and possible denuncia against a company that is treating you illegaly. They will be able advise you if you have a case against the company and then help if you have.

If you get a temporary contract and they never upgrade it, by law after so long your contract automatically becomes and Indefinido. Also if the contract is illegal the law automatically overides it to what the law states. Remember we are if you are from Europe you are a European Citic¡zen and have rights.

The Spanish system is now looking towards stopping dodgy contracts and companies that don't abide by the law. They act very quickly with huge fines against the companies. ( the last one i saw a company paid it`s tax but didn`t fill in the correct forms on time, ther were fined €33.000 just for a paperwork mistake)

So if you do not have an indefinido contract but have worked for the company for so long in the eyes of the law you do have an indefinido contract.

It`s like anywere in the world you have to know the system to get the best out of it.

Appolgies for going slightly of track on the thread but I believe people get treaded badly by companies through lack of knowledge of the system.

Regards
Ian