Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – Real wages in North Rhine-Westphalia have fallen significantly due to high inflation. In the second quarter, they were 3.5 percent below the previous year’s level, as announced by the State Statistical Office IT.NRW on Friday. The 7.7 percent increase in consumer prices was far from offset by the 4 percent increase in nominal wages.
According to the statisticians, this is the second strongest year-on-year decline in real wages in NRW since 2008. Only in the second quarter of 2020 – at the beginning of the Corona Pandemic – was the decline even higher, at 4.3 percent. At that time, however, the fall in nominal wages by 3.7 percent as part of the increased use of short-time work was responsible for the development.
