It sounds like good news: Wages in Germany are rising steadily. Since 2007, the average gross monthly salary has risen by over 50 percent. In 2023, employees in Germany will have earned 6 percent more than in the previous year. However, if the development of consumer prices is taken into account, the increase will be just 0.1 percent. Due to the crises of recent years, the real wage index has been consistently negative or merely stagnant since 2020. This means that despite rising wages, many people have less of the money they earn at the end of the day.
The particularly strong increase in the nominal wage index in 2023 is partly due to the introduction of the minimum wage of €12 and the payment of the inflation compensation premium. It is therefore a special situation that has led to the current development in wages.
High profits for companies
Another statistic is also interesting in this context. The profits of many German companies have risen much faster than in other industrialized countries. Unit profits* have increased by 24% between the end of 2019 and 2024, whereas unit labor costs have only risen by 13%. This is an indication that companies are setting their prices higher than is actually necessary. At the same time, this also offers scope for negotiating further wage increases.
So how do these figures relate to the shortage of labor and skilled workers? It is undisputed that demographic change is having a strong impact on the labor market. As a result, there is a shortage of workers in the care professions, for example.
But demographics are not the only important factor. There are other factors that can at least mitigate the shortage of skilled workers. In addition to the immigration of qualified specialists from abroad, remuneration and working conditions play a major role. However, a comparison of wages and salaries from 2017 and 2022 shows that Only in two of the 15 most significant shortage occupations have salaries risen significantly above average.
Wage development in shortage occupations
This is where the nursing professions come into play again. Driven by the importance of this sector during the coronavirus pandemic, salaries have risen at an above-average rate. Interestingly, this only applies to geriatric care, which previously lagged well behind nursing. The second sector that has seen an above-average increase is also closely linked to the pandemic: Catering.
All other occupations with a shortage of skilled workers (such as many occupations in the construction industry) have either developed at most the same or weaker than the average in terms of wages.
Is it really still possible to speak of a shortage of skilled workers? Or is it not rather the case that some companies are not making use of the instruments that would enable them to recruit qualified specialists?
Even if opinions differ on this topic, it is at least clear that better wages and working conditions create greater incentives for skilled workers. For a long-term perspective, it is therefore essential to continue this debate.
* Unit profit is the difference between revenue and costs per unit, while the labor costs for a particular unit are also called unit labor costs.
Source: Tagesschau
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