A wage increase of a good three percent should have satisfied many employees in previous years. In view of high inflation rates and growing wage differences, however, their joy is currently clouded - especially in an industry that is decisive for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The industry-related income differences in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania increased further in the second year of Corona. While gross wages for full-time employees in the manufacturing sector rose by 4.1 percent to an average of EUR 3,123 per month in 2021, employees in the catering trade, which were particularly hard hit by the pandemic, had to accept a drop in wages of 2.4 percent to EUR 1,966. This emerges from data published by the state's statistical office in Schwerin on Tuesday. The building materials (5.6 percent) and construction industries (3.6 percent) as well as health and social services (4.4 percent) recorded higher growth. Across all sectors, gross wages in the north-east rose by 3.1 percent to an average of 3,294 euros per month.
In actual fact, however, workers had to accept a drop in real wages, since consumer prices had risen even more sharply in the previous year, at 3.3 percent. This trend has clearly intensified in the current year.
According to the statistics office, the available earnings data are arithmetic mean values from the quarterly earnings survey. Accordingly, the highest monthly incomes were registered in the north-east for the areas of education and instruction (4714 euros), communication (4252 euros), financial and insurance services (4244 euros) and energy supply (4221 euros). Significantly less was earned in the retail/vehicle maintenance sector, at an average of 2,830 euros.
In a country comparison, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is further behind. According to the statistics office, per capita gross wages and salaries reached 83.1 percent of the national average in the previous year. Thuringia (84.3 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (85.1 percent) are ahead. According to the information, the highest wages and salaries were in Hamburg at 118.8 percent of the national average. This means that the average monthly income in the Hanseatic city is a good 1,300 euros higher than in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
