Real wage growth in Norway is at its lowest level since the 1980s
Wages after the cost of living has been accounted for have grown at their slowest rate since the 1980s over the past year, a new analysis from Statistics Norway shows.
Between 2015 and 2023, real wage growth has been just 0.4 percent, a recent forecast by SSB, which business news publication E24 has reported on shows.
Essentially this means that once inflation has been accounted for over the past eight years, workers in Norway will only be marginally better off than they were in 2015.
"With this development, real wages will hardly have increased since 2015. We have to go back to the 1980s to find an equally weak wage development over such a long period of time," Statistics Norway (SSB) wrote in an economic analysis.
The figures from Statistics Norway include a provisional forecast for wage growth over the rest of this year.
Furthermore, wages have outgrown inflation in only three of the past eight years. In other years, inflation was either level with wage growth or higher.
E24 spoke to researcher Thomas von Brasch at the SSB, who pointed to oil prices, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine as three factors that explained the wage trend.
Key factors which have affected real wage growth in Norway over the past several years have been fuel and electricity prices. However, anticipating where energy and fuel prices will go can be difficult during collective bargaining agreements, which determine wages for many workers in Norway.
On Monday, the largest trade union group in Norway, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the largest employer organisation, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (NHO), met to begin initial talks over the collective bargaining agreements for 2023.
Statistics Norway predicts wages in the country will rise by five percent this year. However, real wage growth is expected to be zero.
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Between 2015 and 2023, real wage growth has been just 0.4 percent, a recent forecast by SSB, which business news publication E24 has reported on shows.
Essentially this means that once inflation has been accounted for over the past eight years, workers in Norway will only be marginally better off than they were in 2015.
"With this development, real wages will hardly have increased since 2015. We have to go back to the 1980s to find an equally weak wage development over such a long period of time," Statistics Norway (SSB) wrote in an economic analysis.
The figures from Statistics Norway include a provisional forecast for wage growth over the rest of this year.
Furthermore, wages have outgrown inflation in only three of the past eight years. In other years, inflation was either level with wage growth or higher.
E24 spoke to researcher Thomas von Brasch at the SSB, who pointed to oil prices, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine as three factors that explained the wage trend.
Key factors which have affected real wage growth in Norway over the past several years have been fuel and electricity prices. However, anticipating where energy and fuel prices will go can be difficult during collective bargaining agreements, which determine wages for many workers in Norway.
On Monday, the largest trade union group in Norway, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the largest employer organisation, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (NHO), met to begin initial talks over the collective bargaining agreements for 2023.
Statistics Norway predicts wages in the country will rise by five percent this year. However, real wage growth is expected to be zero.
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