Have wages caught up with prices since 2019?
Prices rose fast after the pandemic. In some countries pay rose faster; in others a wage still buys less than in 2019. Each line shows how far prices and wages have risen since the same quarter of 2019, and what a wage buys now. Pick a country for its chart and every spending category.
- European UnionPrices +30.0%, wages +30.0%, a wage buys +0.1%
- Euro areaPrices +26.1%, wages +26.7%, a wage buys +0.5%
- United StatesPrices +30.5%, wages +34.5%, a wage buys +3.0%
- GermanyPrices +27.9%, wages +26.4%, a wage buys −1.2%
- United KingdomPrices +32.0%, wages +40.3%, a wage buys +6.2%
- FrancePrices +21.4%, wages +19.4%, a wage buys −1.7%
- ItalyPrices +23.6%, wages +17.1%, a wage buys −5.2%
- CanadaPrices +23.9%, wages +31.1%, a wage buys +5.8%
- SpainPrices +24.8%, wages +25.9%, a wage buys +0.9%
- NetherlandsPrices +32.1%, wages +33.3%, a wage buys +1.0%
- PolandPrices +51.0%, wages +87.7%, a wage buys +24.3%
- BelgiumQ2 2025Prices +24.8%, wages +24.9%, a wage buys +0.1%
- IrelandPrices +23.4%, wages +32.7%, a wage buys +7.6%
- SwedenPrices +24.5%, wages +25.1%, a wage buys +0.5%
- AustriaPrices +33.8%, wages +39.1%, a wage buys +4.0%
- NorwayPrices +28.5%, wages +38.5%, a wage buys +7.8%
- DenmarkPrices +19.5%, wages +21.0%, a wage buys +1.3%
- RomaniaPrices +58.4%, wages +87.9%, a wage buys +18.6%
- CzechiaPrices +46.7%, wages +49.2%, a wage buys +1.7%
- PortugalPrices +23.6%, wages +44.3%, a wage buys +16.8%
- FinlandPrices +20.6%, wages +22.2%, a wage buys +1.3%
- GreecePrices +24.6%, wages +40.3%, a wage buys +12.7%
- HungaryPrices +62.1%, wages +117.2%, a wage buys +34.0%
- SlovakiaPrices +45.4%, wages +58.7%, a wage buys +9.1%
- BulgariaPrices +42.5%, wages +121.8%, a wage buys +55.6%
- LuxembourgPrices +25.8%, wages +22.9%, a wage buys −2.3%
- CroatiaPrices +39.2%, wages +77.4%, a wage buys +27.4%
- SerbiaPrices +48.7%, wages +127.7%, a wage buys +53.2%
- LithuaniaPrices +49.1%, wages +107.4%, a wage buys +39.2%
- SloveniaPrices +28.7%, wages +55.6%, a wage buys +20.9%
- LatviaPrices +42.9%, wages +69.6%, a wage buys +18.7%
- EstoniaPrices +50.6%, wages +63.5%, a wage buys +8.6%
- CyprusPrices +20.6%, wages +27.0%, a wage buys +5.3%
- IcelandPrices +35.5%, wages +59.1%, a wage buys +17.4%
- AlbaniaPrices +26.9%, wages +75.0%, a wage buys +38.0%
- MaltaPrices +21.9%, wages +22.4%, a wage buys +0.4%
- North MacedoniaPrices +45.6%, wages +97.4%, a wage buys +35.6%
- Kosovo2025Prices +28.0%, wages +49.5%, a wage buys +16.8%
- MontenegroPrices +38.2%, wages +60.0%, a wage buys +15.8%
Prices only, with no wage series yet: Switzerland (+6.8% since August 2019), Türkiye (+915.5% since August 2019).
How to read it
The ring is the rise in prices and the solid dot the rise in wages, over the same months. Where the dot is to the right of the ring, wages rose more than prices and a wage buys more than in 2019; the line is green. Where it is to the left, the line is red. The figure on the right is the real wage: what a wage buys against 2019.
Wages are what each country publishes: in most of Europe, Eurostat's index of wages and salaries per hour worked; elsewhere the average gross wage per employee, or average earnings. Each measure is compared only with itself, so the rises can be set side by side, but not the levels.
Sources
- Eurostat, HICP (prc_hicp_minr): 38 countries
- Eurostat, labour cost index (lc_lci_r2_q): 32 countries
- INSTAT, average gross monthly wage (PTM011): Albania
- State Statistical Office, average paid gross wage: North Macedonia
- MONSTAT, earnings (wages): Montenegro
- Kosovo Agency of Statistics, average salary (tab01): Kosovo
- ONS, CPI index (D7BT): United Kingdom
- ONS, average weekly earnings (KAB9): United Kingdom
- BLS, CPI-U (CPIAUCNS), via FRED: United States
- BLS, average hourly earnings (CES0500000003), via FRED: United States
- Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0004-01: Canada
- Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0223-01: Canada
Processing and visualisation: The Macro Notebook, based on data from INSTAT and the other sources above.