Public vs Private in Spain: What Teachers and Doctors Are Actually Paid — and Why Thousands Are on Strike

Since Monday 12 May, public school teachers across the Comunitat Valenciana have been on indefinite strike — the first of its kind in the region in recent memory, and one that has brought tens of thousands onto the streets.

The list of demands goes beyond pay: smaller class sizes, better working conditions, and the restoration of benefits that teachers argue have been quietly eroded over years of budget restraint.

So far, the results have been lukewarm. The unions have rejected the Conselleria’s offer — which raised its proposed monthly salary supplement from an initial €120 to €200, to be phased in progressively: €75 in 2026, another €75 in 2027, and €50 in 2028.

And so the strike continues.

The funcionario: Spain’s most coveted job title

A funcionario is a civil servant. But not in the vague, catch-all sense the word implies in English. In Spain, becoming a funcionario means passing a gruelling competitive exam called the oposición — years of preparation, high financial cost to the candidate and their family, and no guarantee of success. The reward, if you make it through, is a job for life.

The public sector employs teachers, doctors, judges, police officers, administrative staff, and more — and virtually all of them entered through this system. It’s not just a career path. It’s a cultural institution. Stable salary, guaranteed pension, MUFACE health coverage (a separate, more flexible scheme than the general social security system), and a status that carries real weight in the community.

The flip side, as any Spaniard will tell you: your pay rises with time served — not with results. So now, you may begin to understand the long line to get a cita, or the unpredictable wait time for a notification that never quite arrives on schedule.

Teachers: security yes, ceiling also yes

Some explaining is necessary first. Spanish public school teachers are funcionarios. They passed their oposiciones, they have their plaza, and their salary is set by their autonomous community according to a nationally negotiated framework.

The Ministry of Education’s own comparative data (via the Eurydice network) puts starting salaries for fully qualified public school teachers at around €29,918 for primary and €33,392 for secondary — weighted averages across Spain’s regions, at 2018/19 rates. Those figures have risen modestly since. (There’s the problem.)

The career arc is slow. According to the same Eurydice data, a Spanish secondary teacher can expect their salary to increase by around 41% over a full career — but reaching that ceiling takes approximately 39 years. By European standards, that’s a long wait for a modest gain.

Private language academies typically pay €1,200–€1,500 per month; international schools, where demand for native speakers is higher, tend to offer €1,500–€2,000. Neither comes with funcionario security, but international schools increasingly offer additional perks to attract and retain staff.

Doctors: the gap is real, and people are leaving

Teachers aren’t the only ones on the picket line. Spanish doctors have been striking on and off since the start of 2026, clocking up 19 days of industrial action by late May — part of a calendar of monthly stoppages planned through to June.

The public-private divide  here is sharpest — and most consequential — in medicine.

A doctor working in Spain’s Sistema Nacional de Salud earns, on average, around €54,200 gross per year, according to figures cited by specialist healthcare press drawing on regional health service data. But that average masks a wide range. A GP with several years of experience in the public system might earn €35,000–€50,000 annually. A senior hospital specialist towards the end of their career can reach €70,000–€90,000 — higher in País Vasco and Navarra, lower in Canarias.

The private sector is where the real divergence begins. Private practice salaries range from €40,000 to well over €100,000, depending on specialty and volume of patients. Most doctors in Spain who earn at the upper end do so by combining public sector positions with private practice — a common arrangement the system implicitly tolerates.

What makes this more than a salary story is what’s happening at the edges. Spain trained 633 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants by 2024 — up from 512 a decade earlier — and yet the system is struggling to fill posts. Between 2017 and 2024, Spain had a physician migration rate of 11.7%, according to a 2025 Medscape analysis drawing on OECD data. The destination of choice: the UK and Germany, where salaries are significantly higher and working conditions often better.

The Final Thought.

Spain is a country that has long asked its public sector workers to trade ambition for security. Right now, from Valencia’s classrooms to hospital waiting rooms across the country, that deal is being renegotiated.

Whether the government meets them halfway remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the plaza — that coveted, permanent post — is no longer enough on its own.