Inflation: German real wages will fall again in 2021 - but there is no improvement in sight
Created: 02/16/2022, 09:52
In the past year, the real wages of Germans have fallen slightly.
© Zacharie Scheurer/dpa-tmn
Real wages in Germany fell slightly last year.
This trend is likely to continue in 2022.
Berlin – Because of the strongest inflation* in almost three decades, German workers again had to accept real wage losses in 2021.
The gross monthly earnings including special payments increased by an average of almost 3.1 percent, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday.
Consumer prices grow faster than earnings
However, consumer prices grew more significantly at a good 3.1 percent.
As a result, real wages fell by 0.1 percent.
In the first year of the Corona crisis, 2020, they even fell by 1.1 percent.
At that time, the increased use of short-time work in particular caused wages to fall.
Due to the relaxed measures in the fight against the corona pandemic, less short-time work was used last year.
"This led to increased gross monthly earnings for employees, since weekly working hours returned to normal and the short-time work allowance does not count towards gross earnings," the statisticians explained.
Overall, the paid weekly working time of full-time employees has increased by an average of 1.1 percent.
In 2022 there is a risk of real wage losses again
This year there is a risk of real wage losses again, as inflation is likely to be even higher than in 2021. The Ifo Institute has raised its inflation forecast from 3.3 to 4.0 percent due to expensive energy.
That would be the strongest increase since 1993, when it was 4.5 percent.
The reason for the upward correction is also the current Ifo survey, according to which more and more companies want to raise their prices further.
Some economists fear that the trade unions could sooner or later push through significantly stronger wage agreements in order to stem the loss of purchasing power.
In turn, sharply rising personnel costs could prompt companies to raise their sales prices sharply* in order to maintain the profit margin.
This could set in motion a spiral of ever-increasing prices and wages.
(rtr)
*Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
