When Mr. Zapatero announced a move to stimulate the economy last week — an overhaul of the country’s labor laws, which make it virtually impossible to fire older workers — unions, traditionally his allies, called for a general strike in September, the first one in nearly a decade.

“These are painful times,” said Ángel Torres Torres, the secretary general of economic policy and international affairs. “We have a model that we value. We are a civilized society. We pay taxes. We take care of your needy. The question is — is this sustainable?”

For Ms. Díaz and her partner, Robert García, also 34, Spain’s austerity measures — which include salary cuts for civil servants, pension freezes and the elimination of a $3,300 baby bonus — have been profoundly unsettling.

Only two years ago, the couple believed that they had made all the right choices, well on their way to a comfortable middle-class existence, with benefits that included subsidized child care and an interest-free mortgage available to municipal workers.

They were able to afford a large flat-screen television and vacations in Russia and China. They retiled the kitchen and bathroom. When their first child, Anders, was born 22 months ago, they used their baby bonus to buy a bigger car.

Now, Ms. Díaz wishes she could take back those purchases. She is already budgeting for the 5 percent cut to her $2,000-a-month salary and bracing for more. The bare energy-saving light bulbs hanging from the ceiling in her living room will not get fixtures soon. There will be no more evenings out. And the indoor parking space will have to go.

More distressing still is that Mr. García, a driver at a construction site who spent last year unemployed, may lose his job again. The water-distribution project he is working on — earning about $1,200 a month — may be on the list of capital improvements the government wants to postpone to save money.