Real wages fall by 2.2 percent due to inflation

It’s bad news for workers. Inflation hits hard this year! The social partners of the main collective labor agreements (GAV) have decided on a wage increase, namely plus 0.8 percent for effective wages and 0.6 percent for minimum wages. But inflation immediately eats into the plus. Specifically, real wages are likely to fall by 2.2 percent this year as a result of inflation. That is the conclusion of the Federal Bureau of Statistics (BfS), which has examined the most important collective labor agreement wage agreements.

0.5 percent of the nominal effective wage increase, or gross wages paid, is guaranteed individually and 0.3 percent collectively, the BfS announced on Monday. Collectively means that all employees benefit from the same pay increase. Taking into account the inflation forecast of 3 percent for 2022, real wages are therefore likely to fall. About 551,000 people are affected by the effective wage agreements.

For the study, the BfS examined collective labor agreements to which at least 1,500 people are subordinate. Wage adjustments for 2022 broken down by industry for which figures are available:

• Construction: +0.1 percent
• Health and social care: +0.1 percent
• Trade, maintenance and repair of vehicles: +2.2 percent
• Manufacturing industry (production of food, medicine, machine building, etc.): +1 percent
• Provision of other economic services (e.g. travel agencies, landscaping, security firms): +0.6 percent
• Providing financial and insurance services: +0.4 percent
• Provision of freelance, scientific and technical services: +0.3 percent
• Transport and warehousing: + 0.2 percent
• Delivery of other services: +0.2 percent

About 1,664,000 people are covered by a collective labor agreement in which minimum wage agreements have been made. (SDA/bgs)