Parterne i den svenske industri er enedes om en lønaftale for de kommende to et halvt år på 5,4 pct. Det svarer til en årlig lønstigning på 1,8 pct., og det ligger under de seneste tre år, hvor lønningerne steg med 2,5 pct. Lønaftalen ventes at danne grundlag for det øvrige arbejdsmarked og peger dermed på meget lave stigningerne for omkostningerne. Samme tendens er set i andre europæiske lande, f.eks. Tyskland. Vi kan se frem til nogle af de laveste lønstigninger nogensinde.
Sweden: New wage agreements: increase of 5.4 percent over 29 months
• Agreed wage increases of only 1.8 percent per year
• Low underlying inflation pressure
• Riksbank not rocking the boat
Agreed wage increases of only 1.8 percent per year
The bargaining parties within the industrial sector signed a new wage agreement for contractual wage increases of 5.4 percent over 29 months (November 2020 to March 2023). The agreement was significantly higher than the first bid of 4.5 percent.
• Low underlying inflation pressure
• Riksbank not rocking the boat
Agreed wage increases of only 1.8 percent per year
The bargaining parties within the industrial sector signed a new wage agreement for contractual wage increases of 5.4 percent over 29 months (November 2020 to March 2023). The agreement was significantly higher than the first bid of 4.5 percent.
The contract will now serve as a benchmark for the rest of the labour market. The agreement is in line with the 2017 wage round, which agreed wage increases of 2.2 percent per year. However, the previous industrial sector agreement expired on March 31 and the new agreement does not include retroactive wage increases.
The agreement can therefore in practice be seen as a three-year agreement with wage increases of only 1.8 percent per year (April 2020 to March 2023).
Low underlying inflation pressure
The new wage agreement indicates that cost pressures will remain low for many years.
The wage drift in the business sector will probably also be kept in check as long as resource utilisation is well below normal.
However, some upward pressure on wages in sectors such as healthcare and social services is probable, which could contribute to a higher rate of wage growth in the public sector, as has been the trend in recent years.
All in all, there is much to indicate that wage increases for the three-year period of 2020-22 will average just over 2 percent per year, which is below 2.5 percent per year for the past three years.
