If you look at the harmonized price increase, which allows you to compare countries, the price increase in the various countries in December was as follows: Norway: 4.7 per cent Sweden: 1.9 per cent Denmark: 0.4 per cent Let’s look at the difference between Norway and Sweden first. Wage growth is different The central bank in both of these countries has a target for price growth (inflation) to be around 2 per cent a year, and both Norway and Sweden have a floating krone exchange rate. Thus, there are some similar prerequisites. Economist news has nevertheless pointed out the following differences: Sweden produces more different industrial goods than Norway, and with that perhaps has greater competition from abroad for these goods, which can help to push prices down. The Swedish krona has weakened less than the Norwegian krone, which has meant that it has been significantly more expensive to import goods to Norway than to Sweden. The unemployment rate is far higher in Sweden than in Norway. In January, it was respectively 8.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, according to the statistics agency. Last year, the Swedish trade unions agreed to a wage settlement that gave them greatly weakened purchasing power. The Swedish front-line profession agreed to a two-year agreement, agreeing to a salary increase of 4.1 percent last year and 3.3 percent this year. By way of comparison, the front subject framework in Norway was 5.2 per cent last year. – The big difference is that wage growth in Norway is higher than in Sweden, says professor emeritus Nils Gottfries at Uppsala University. Professor emeritus Nils Gottfries at Uppsala University. Photo: Uppsala University – Responsible Gottfries claims that the Swedish trade unions have understood that the Swedish inflation target and the Swedish exchange rate help determine the room for wage growth. – The trade unions in Sweden understand that if they demand a wage increase that is not linked to the inflation target, the consequence will be that inflation will go up, and then the Swedish central bank will raise interest rates, jobs will disappear and there will be lower employment. You can say that the Swedish trade unions are very responsible, says Gottfries. He believes that things such as higher energy and raw material prices and problems in world trade are things that cannot be compensated for. – It makes us poorer. Swedish wage earners have lost a lot and are roughly back to the wage level of 2015. But there is nothing to be done about these things that contribute to weakening real wages, says Gottfries. Rejects the statements LO head Peggy Hessen Følsvik says she will not use the statements of the Swedish professor as a basis when they are now going to start with the salary settlement. – The numbers we have seen today and also for the years we have put behind us, we have not had real wage growth in Norway, says Følsvik. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik learned on Friday that the Technical Calculation Committee (TBU) assumes that prices will rise by 4.1 per cent this year. It helps to lay the foundation for the salary settlement this year. She points out that the Technical Calculation Committee (TBU) determined on Friday that Norwegian workers on average saw a real wage decrease of 0.4 per cent after tax last year. – Our shop stewards and unions are sensible. As an old federalist once said: we never negotiate out of the doors at the factory gate. At the same time, it is important that we have our share of value creation. The exchange rate central to Denmark The most important and biggest difference to Denmark is the exchange rate. In contrast to the central banks in Norway and Sweden, the Danish central bank controls interest rates so that the Danish krone stabilizes against the euro. BI professor Hilde C. Bjørnland. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news – In recent years, the exchange rate has become weaker in Norway. That makes it much more expensive to import goods, explains Professor Hilde C. Bjørnland. For many, the Danish price increase has been surprisingly low recently. Here energy prices – which rose sharply in 2022, and have fallen again throughout last year – play an important role. – In Denmark, energy prices are a slightly more central part of the overall price increase. Price growth rose sharply in 2022 and the fall is just as sharp now, explains chief economist Søren Kristensen at Sydbank. And the power support? But why has the fall in electricity and energy prices not reduced price growth as much in Norway as in Denmark? It is because of the electricity subsidy in this country, according to Espen Kristiansen in Statistics Norway. – We are one of the few countries that has a system that is so close to the market price. Other countries may have given support in the form of lump sums, and this does not affect the overall price increase in the same way, Kristiansen explains. Straumstøtta dampened prices when they were high in 2022, and thus the drop in market prices that came through last year will not have the same effect on price growth in Norway.
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– The difference is that wage growth in Norway is higher – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
