Pay developments – 2008

EIRO’s annual analysis of pay trends finds that the average collectively agreed nominal wage increase across the EU fell from 7% in 2007 to 6.6% in 2008. Taking into account inflation, which rose strongly in 2008, the rate of real pay increase across the EU fell sharply, from 3.6% in 2007 to 1.3% in 2008. During the period under review, differences in terms of both pay trends and the level of pay increases persisted between the EU Member States that constituted the EU before the enlargement of 1 May 2004 and those that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The report also examines collectively agreed pay increases in three selected sectors (metalworking, banking and local government), current wage rates and minimum wage increases, increases in average earnings, as well as the extent of the gender pay gap across all countries.