Collective bargaining demands as high as they have not been in decades.
(Photo: dpa)
How long has it been since your last salary increase? There is a high probability that the answer is: not that long.
Recently, not only the salaries for specialists in IT or controlling have risen sharply. In the collective bargaining sector, for example, there were wage agreements that were higher than they had been for 30 years. In this mixed situation, the first Dax companies are also reporting that they are correcting their salary budgets with a view to the inflation rate in Germany – upwards, of course.
Inflation is now driving wages. And even if economists may still argue: The decisive question for the economy is not so much whether, according to all definitions of economics, there really is a wage-price spiral. The question is: How long will this development continue?
Not only those who have listened to the chancellor during the largely fruitless “concerted action” this week suspect that the trend will continue for a while. Literally, the “Scholzomat” said: “The current crisis will not be over in a few months.”
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Even if one can confidently complain that – to use another Scholz word – there is not a lot of “bang” about cashing in on all expectations of concrete results before a meeting: the Chancellor’s approach is correct. It is right to remind the social partners and in particular the trade unions of their responsibility in this special situation. Their sense of proportion is just as important as that of the central banks, so that inflation does not slowly spread over the economy like an oil slick.
The spiral should continue to turn
However, it is questionable how great the tariff reluctance will be. Two important salary rounds are due in the metal and electrical industry and in the public sector in the fall. The IG Metall districts have already self-confidently spent eight percent more money than the target. This rather suggests that the spiral continues to turn.
It is correct: Many employees worked hard during the crisis and held back on salary demands during the acute pandemic period. It is therefore understandable that there is now some catching up to do. For companies, on the other hand, rising wages as a result of high inflation, along with skyrocketing energy and raw material prices, are another burden in the current crisis. And that’s not even pricing in the skills shortage.
More: Because of record inflation: First Dax companies increase salaries unscheduled