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Germany – Real wages rise in 2015

08 February 2016

Real wages in Germany rose by 2.5% in 2015 compared to the same period in the previous year, according to a real wage index quarterly survey by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

The Federal Statistical Office also reports that in addition to the moderate development of consumer prices (+0.3%), the real growth was also due to the increase in nominal earnings (+2.8%), which was slightly above average compared with the previous five years.

According to the report, the introduction of the minimum wage on 1 January 2015 has so far had an unknown effect on the rates of change of the nominal or real wage index, as it cannot be quantified on the basis of the present data. However, the data shows that workers with below-average earnings have high growth. For example, in 2015, there was an increase in monthly gross earnings among unskilled labor workers (4.1%) compared with more skilled workers.

Even marginal workers (+4.7%) benefited significantly more than part-time (+3%) and full-time employees (2.6%) from wage increases.

There were also differences between East and West Germany. While increases were in East Germany reached 3.9%, wages in western Germany increased by 2.5%.