Argentine builder in Spain: “We earn very little. If you’re thinking of coming, I recommend staying in Argentina”

Matías Armani, an Argentine builder with two decades in the trade, has issued a blunt warning to compatriots considering emigration as an answer to Argentina’s economic crisis: Spain may not offer the financial security they expect.

Armani, who now lives on Spain’s Costa del Sol, said construction workers earn between 1,500 and 1,800 euros a month. But rents in the tourist region can consume 800 to 1,200 euros, while food costs another 400 to 500 euros. Adding roughly 200 euros for utilities and taxes leaves workers with little or nothing at the end of the month.

“For me, we earn very little,” Armani said in a video posted to his TikTok account, @tuobraperfecta. He argued that the income does not guarantee a dignified life or allow workers to save and make long-term plans.

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For me, we earn very little.

The builder also questioned why wages remain low despite strong demand for construction labor. He said the Costa del Sol’s landscape, filled with cranes, shows that the sector needs workers. “When a product is in high demand, its price goes up. Yet today in Spain, on the Costa del Sol, wages are very low,” he said.

Armani linked the problem to the lack of generational replacement in traditional trades. Data from the Labor Foundation for Construction cited in the article shows that only 10% of workers in the sector are under 30. He said young people in Argentina and Spain are increasingly turning away from bricklaying, plumbing and electrical work, partly because the trades have lost prestige and involve demanding physical labor.

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When a product is in high demand, its price goes up. Yet today in Spain, on the Costa del Sol, wages are very low.