In the forthcoming autumn quarter in particular, many employees are threatened with a severe drop in real wages.
(Photo: dpa)
Wiesbaden Rising inflation is causing real wages in Germany to fall more quickly. From April to June, the gross monthly earnings of employees including special payments grew by 2.9 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. “However, consumer prices rose by 7.6 percent in the same period,” said the Federal Statistical Office on Monday.
From this, the experts calculated a real (price-adjusted) drop in earnings of around 4.4 percent. There was a major minus at the beginning of the Corona crisis in spring 2020, when mass short-time work hit earnings. Real wages had already fallen in the first quarter of 2022, albeit significantly weaker at 1.8 percent.
Many employees are threatened with a loss of purchasing power over the year as a whole. The wage increases agreed so far do not by far compensate for the sharp rise in inflation, as calculated by the wage archive of the trade union-related Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI).
According to the agreements available to date, negotiated wages are likely to grow by an average of 2.9 percent in 2022. After deducting the expected inflation rate, however, they fall by 3.6 percent in real terms. “After the negotiated wages increased relatively significantly in real terms in the 2010s, in 2022 many employees are threatened with real wage losses for the second year in a row,” said Thorsten Schulten, head of the WSI collective bargaining archive.
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In the forthcoming autumn quarter in particular, many employees are threatened with a severe drop in real wages. Because of rising energy prices, economists are predicting an inflation rate of around nine percent or higher. It is currently still at 7.5 percent – also because the tank discount and 9-euro ticket are currently dampening the rise in prices. However, both measures expire at the end of August.
Demands for new state aid are therefore becoming louder in politics. In a draft of the SPD parliamentary group leadership for the closed conference on September 1 and 2, which is available to the Reuters news agency, a whole bundle of measures is proposed as to how the burden on citizens can be relieved and the energy supply can be secured.
Consumer prices rose by 7.6 percent.
(Photo: IMAGO/Martin Wagner)
These include a gas and electricity price brake, the reform of the gas levy that has only just been decided, if necessary the state involvement in energy suppliers and direct payments to the poor.
More: The Federal Employment Agency has doubts about the punctual introduction of citizen’s income