On Tuesday, October 8, the Federal Statistics Agency (Destatis) published the figures of the evolutions of actual wages in Germany in the 2nd 2013 quarter. Over the period, nominal wage increased in the same proportion as inflation, which means that real wages stagnated, after a slight step back in the first quarter. Therefore, over the 1st semester of this year, the first decline in real wages since 2009 is confirmed. Statisticians say this mostly comes from the lack or suspension of single bonuses in many sectors. By the end of the year however, experts believe that an increase higher than inflation is still possible. But views about the scope of wage increases for 2014 are more divided. To back this article up, Planet Labor is giving you a chart of average gross monthly wages in the 2nd quarter in 20 different sectors. (Ref. 130603)
Stagnant real wages in the 2nd quarter. Figures recently released by the Federal Statistics Agency show that nominal wages (full-time, part-time and minijobs) increased by 1.5 percent compared with the same period in 2012. But inflation also increased by 1.5 percent, which means that actual wages were the same. This happened after pay went down by 0.1 percent in the first quarter, with nominal wages increasing by 1.4 percent and inflation by 1.5 percent.
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