Fernando García (Madrigueras, Albacete) began preparing for a computer assistant civil service exam for the General State Administration (AGE) in 2021. In June 2024, the good news arrived: he had passed and secured a position in Madrid. However, when he started looking for an apartment, the problems began. He had to move to the Pozuelo de Alarcón area in the Community of Madrid, and the rental housing he found cost more than 800 euros per month. He managed to hold on for a year, but his salary of about 1,400 euros was not enough to make ends meet, as he also has two children who stayed in Albacete with his wife. “It was unfeasible to support a family and pay so much for an apartment, I did the math and at the end of the month I was losing money by working,” he recounts. García looked for ways to stay in the capital, such as sharing a house with relatives, but finally, at 46 years old, he decided to leave this autonomous community because he could not afford the payment for a house, gave up his position, and returned to Albacete.
His story is not an isolated case but a reality affecting a significant number of public workers. A survey conducted this summer by the civil service exam preparation academy Supera Oposiciones indicates that nearly one in three (31.5%) had to give up a position or a promotion due to the high cost of housing in their assigned destination. Without giving percentages, all experts consulted acknowledge and denounce that this is a reality present in the daily lives of many public servants.
Javier Jordán, president of the national justice sector of the CSIF civil servants union, highlights that the problem “affects most destinations, but especially the most pressured areas” and laments the “seriousness” of the situation in the Balearic Islands. The Government delegate in this autonomous community, Alfonso Rodríguez, admitted in statements to the press in May that “the high price of housing is pushing civil servants out of the Balearic Islands.” There, the price per square meter is the most expensive in all of Spain (3,782 euros) according to the most recent data published by Tinsa, the country’s largest property appraiser.
But the problem goes much further. According to Tinsa’s data, housing prices in Spain rose by 15.2% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period the previous year. It is the highest growth in two decades. And Jordán assures that the organization is receiving “more and more complaints because the salaries paid do not allow covering the cost of apartments” in the major provincial capitals.
To resolve this situation, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Function recalls that at the beginning of summer the Council of Ministers “raised residence allowances for civil servants in the Balearic Islands after reaching an agreement with the unions.” According to the Government’s calculations, which made this decision on July 7, the cost will be 16.3 million euros and will benefit more than 11,000 public workers of the AGE in that autonomous community.
But the unions believe the problem goes beyond the Balearic Islands. Comisiones Obreras (CC OO) focuses on the high percentage of vacancies in the General State Administration. Thirty percent of people who pass a state civil service exam do not take up their position. The union does not hesitate to link this figure to the housing access crisis. Montserrat Gómez, general secretary of the General State Administration sector of CC OO, assures that “there are more cases [than before] of people who pass a civil service exam but decide to think twice and give up that position because they cannot afford the payment for a house.”
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The results of the Supera Oposiciones survey also indicated that 43.5% of civil servants condition their promotion on a salary increase or a specific incentive that directly compensates for the cost of housing in the destination location. Jesús Polvorinos, who has been preparing civil service exams at this academy for almost two decades and is now its director, recalls that before one of the first questions people thinking about taking exams asked was how much they would earn or how many positions there were for each post. However, in recent years he has noticed a change. “Another question that now appears very early is what destinations can be assigned, as they are increasingly concerned about the cost of living, especially housing,” he states. Almost one in four participants (23.8%) in the academy’s study says this variable “totally” conditions any transfer decision.
Difficulties in attracting talent
The difficulties many civil servants or aspiring ones face could end up being a significant complication for the Administration to fill the positions it needs. This is pointed out by Verónica Carballo, coordinator of public services of the UGT union, who denounces that “with housing prices skyrocketing, those considering taking civil service exams think twice about whether it is worth going to a big city.” By autonomous communities, Madrid and the Balearic Islands stand out as the two where it is currently most difficult to find a rental, with prices in both above 19 euros per square meter, according to listings published on the Fotocasa portal. In Catalonia, prices exceed 17 euros. These amounts correspond to rents between 1,900 and 1,700 euros monthly for a 100-square-meter apartment.
In this context, many civil servants consider, according to the exam academy, requesting a transfer to their place of origin or to less crowded destinations. But that does not necessarily align with the needs of the Administrations. Jordán, from CSIF, warns that the growing number of vacancies could generate “difficulties in providing public services.”
Regarding solutions, the CC OO representative calls for an improvement in salary conditions. This implies, in her opinion, that in the case of the AGE, “salaries should not be less than 1,500 euros net per month.” UGT points to the need to strengthen “social action,” the set of economic aids and complementary benefits that public Administrations offer their staff. For example, with specific housing payment aids. Polvorinos agrees with both demands and also proposes territorial decentralization that increases the number of positions where housing is less costly.
García, who finally secured a position as a computer assistant in Albacete, says he has never regretted the decision he made. He claims that by giving up the post in the capital he gained quality of life. “The year I was in Madrid, I couldn’t afford a vacation, I couldn’t afford it,” he recounts. Around him, he hears more workers who want to leave big cities because “housing is impossible.” And he concludes: “It will become increasingly unbearable for civil servants to live in the most pressured areas, public Administrations must solve it.”
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