Overview
- Destatis reported nominal wages up 4.9% year over year against 2.3% consumer-price inflation, lifting real pay by 2.7% for the strongest increase of 2025 so far.
- The lowest-paid full-time quintile saw the fastest nominal rise at 7.2%, exceeding the top quintile’s 4.9% gain.
- Education (+7.3%) and finance and insurance (+7.2%) led sector increases, with information and communication and water and waste services at +6.1%, while construction (+3.5%), retail and auto repair (+2.9%) and hospitality (+2.8%) lagged.
- Despite higher purchasing power, private consumption fell 0.3% quarter on quarter in Q3 and overall GDP stagnated.
- Retail turnover declined in October by 0.1% in nominal terms and 0.3% after inflation, and statisticians noted index effects from the end of the 2024 inflation premium and a rebasing to 2025=100 from Q4.