Economics experts believe the country’s ageing population and ongoing skills gap could mean that workers in Germany are in for a pay rise.
Germany’s ageing population and labour shortages, Felbermayr said an increase in the minimum wage from €9.30 to at least €12 – a policy that has been taken up by parties such as the Greens and SPD – and higher inflation would also contribute to wages rising significantly more than before.
In previous years, wages have generally only risen by between 2.5 and three percent. Meanwhile, the prices of everyday items like food and household goods have been rising steeply.
In August alone, prices rose by 3.9 percent in Germany and by three percent across the Eurozone as a whole. Experts expect this figure to keep rising in Europe, reaching a peak of around 3.5 percent in November.
As media has been reported in recent days, electricity and gas prices are also rising dramatically for households across Germany.
So far, the rise in the cost of living hasn’t been matched by equivalent rises in salaries, but with Germany’s ongoing labour shortage woes, this could be set to change.
