As of: March 7, 2024, 7:30 a.m
By: Anne Hund
Comments
Press
Split
Despite strong salary increases and one-off payments, employees' purchasing power suffered during the Corona years.
Only falling inflation will bring about a turnaround.
After a significant slump during the corona pandemic, real wages for employees in Germany rose slightly again for the first time last year.
The average increase in salaries of 6.0 percent was almost completely offset by the 5.9 percent increase in consumer prices in 2023, as the Federal Statistical Office reported at the end of February.
This year there was a real wage increase of 0.1 percent, the first increase since 2019.
The decline in real wages stopped
According to the Federal Statistical Office, real wages have fallen every year since 2020, as
Tagesschau.de
(as of February 29, 2024) also reported on the background.
In 2020, the increased use of short-time work due to the Corona crisis contributed to falling real wages, while in 2021 and 2022 high inflation ate up the increase in nominal wages.
In the current year, the chances are now good that employees will have noticeably more in their wallets, according to the Tagesschau report.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), for example, expects a nominal wage increase of 5.6 percent for 2024.
With a presumed inflation rate of between two and three percent, this would result in a real increase of around three percent.
Higher inflation rates reduce the purchasing power of consumers.
(Symbolic image) © Christin Klose/dpa
Positive development of real wages - inflation premium also contributed to this
However, the inflation compensation premium also contributed to the positive development of real wages.
These inflation compensation premiums paid in many companies were also taken into account in the nominal wages.
These one-off payments are exempt from taxes and contributions by the state and have caused incomes in the lower salary groups to rise disproportionately.
Such a tax- and duty-free payment of up to 3,000 euros per employee - a voluntary benefit on the part of the employer - can be paid out once or in several installments.
Employers can still grant their employees such a bonus tax-free until the end of 2024.
How are wages developing?
According to the WSI collective bargaining archive, negotiations on the wages of 12 million employees are also due in the current year 2024.
The tariff year is already a heavyweight in purely quantitative terms.
Among other things, negotiations are taking place in the metal and electrical industries, chemicals and the construction industry.
The collective agreements in the federal and local public services will also expire at the end of the year.
This backlog demand is particularly high in construction and at Deutsche Telekom, whose last wage agreements dated back to the period before the high inflation rates.
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Inflation has a major impact on purchasing power
High prices continue to cause problems for many consumers.
Economists expect inflation to fall further over the course of the year.
However, the decline could slow down.
Stress factors include the increase in the CO₂ price from 30 euros per ton of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to 45 euros and the return to the regular VAT rate on food in restaurants at the beginning of the year.
Higher inflation rates reduce the purchasing power of consumers.
People can afford one euro less.
(
With material from dpa)