Berlin (Reuters) – The earnings of the millions of employees with a collective agreement rose comparatively little last year, despite high inflation.
According to the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday, the agreed monthly earnings, including special payments, grew by 2.2 percent compared to 2021. That is more than in the first two Corona years, 2020 with 2.0 and 2021 with 1.3 percent, but less than in the pre-crisis years of 2019 with 3.2 percent, 2018 with 2.9 and 2017 with 2.6 percent .
Without special payments, negotiated wages only increased by 1.4 percent last year. “This is mainly due to the fact that some of the agreed tariff increases will only have an effect on payments in the 2023 calendar year,” the statisticians explained. That was far from enough to offset the rise in consumer prices: the inflation rate averaged 6.9 percent in 2022.
In the individual sectors, the degrees were very different. The largest increases in negotiated wages with special payments were in the hospitality industry (+6.9 percent), in the so-called other economic service providers (+5.0) and in the construction industry (+3.9). “On the other hand, the increases in the manufacturing sector, which is important for the economy as a whole, were particularly low at just 1.3 percent,” it said. There was also below-average growth in the areas of information and communication (+1.3 percent), education and teaching, and energy supply (each +1.8).
The trade unions are now trying to push through higher degrees because of the sharp increase in the cost of living. For the approximately 2.5 million employees in the public sector at the federal and local levels, 10.5 percent more salary is required, but at least 500 euros more per month. The railway and transport union (EVG) demands twelve percent more wages, but at least 650 euros more per month.
According to the Bundesbank, the strong inflation is likely to continue for a while, also due to high wage agreements. “Notable second-round effects on prices are foreseeable,” says the current monthly report. “They help ensure that the inflation rate will remain well above the medium-term target of two percent for the euro area over a longer period of time.” Many economists fear that companies could raise their sales prices further because of higher personnel costs.
(Report by Rene Wagner, edited by Christian Rüttger – If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected])