On July 5, Destatis, the Federal Statistics Agency published a report on the evolution of pay in Germany between 2007 and 2012 and over the first 2013 quarter. Unlike what several banking analysts had foretold, real pay hasn’t “substantially increased.” On the contrary, it is 0.1 percent down in the first 2013 quarter, the first decrease since the end of 2009. As regards collectively agreed wages, which cover about 50-70 percent of companies, an analysis by the Hans Böckler union foundation shows that the situation is less volatile with an average 2.8 percent increase planned for 2013, i.e. a real 1.3 percent increase if inflation remains the same. But collectively-agreed or not, statistics also point to a widening gap between the highest and lowest wages, thus adding grist to the mill of those in favor of the introduction of minimum wage, even if it is moderate. (Ref. 130463)
Harsh winter and bonuses down. In the first 2013 quarter, wages in Germany went up by 1.4 percent. But since inflation over the period was 1.5 percent, the Federal Statistic Agency says that real wages went down 0.1 percent. A few weeks ago, analysts from the Deutsche Bank and the KfW public investment bank predicted a “high increase in real wages.” Destatis says that this decline – the first since the 4th 2009 quarter – mostly comes from the harsh winter full of working time cuts in severa
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