Salaries increased by 6.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year, according to recent figures from Statistics Norway. It is especially those employed in the municipality who have seen the strongest increase in wages, with 7.4 per cent. – In the municipalities, the teachers had two pay statements this year, which has already had a big impact on the municipal sector, says Knut Håkon Grini, senior adviser at Statistics Norway. Grini says that it is those who work in oil extraction, and in accommodation and service occupations, who have had the best wage development in the third quarter, even if the distances are not great. Check your industry here: Increasing differences in the last 25 years According to figures from Statistics Norway, differences in wages increased from 1997 until 2014. This was because the wage development was greater in the best-paid jobs, compared to the others. Statistics Norway (SSB) keeps track of people’s monthly wages in Norway. It is the agreed salary together with irregular supplements and bonuses. In the years after 2015, development lost momentum and came to a standstill. In 2021 and 2022, you will probably see increasing differences in wages. The latest figures from Statistics Norway, which go up to August 2023, show that the trend is continuing. – There has been a slight increase in differences, but it is not the distance between the low-paid and the high-paid that is increasing, but rather those in the middle who are not keeping pace with the high-paid, says Grini. So there are teachers, nurses, shop assistants. tradesmen, and those who work in construction who do not keep up with the development in wages. – If we look at people in the sales and service profession, we see that their salary increase is in line with, and slightly above, the total increase. They keep pace with wage growth in general, says Grini. The low-wage earners keep up better with the wage development of the high-wage earners. Typical occupations in the middle, such as nurses, teachers and carpenters, fell somewhat from the development. Wages are increasing, but so are prices In October this year, figures came out which showed that prices had risen by 3.3 per cent in the past year. Compared to last year, this is 1.5 percentage points lower than the twelve-month growth in August. Despite the fact that price growth fell slightly in the last year, prices have increased in recent years. In July, food prices had increased by 13.7 per cent since July last year. Consumer Price Index (CPI) Shows how the prices of the goods and services that private households demand change. In other words, the CPI shows changes in the consumer prices of goods and services. The consumer price index is usually compared with consumption the previous year. The goods and services that accounted for the largest part of the household budget receive the greatest value. The CPI is often used as a measure of inflation. The CPI adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy goods (CPI-JAE) can be used as a measure of the underlying development in consumer prices, or underlying inflation. Statistics Norway calculates the consumer price index. Tala is published every month. In April this year, Fagforbundet and LO celebrated what they called a historically good wage settlement. In the time since, it turned out that the price rise was expected to be greater than what was thought at the time. According to Grini, the rise in prices did not affect wages as much as first feared, because wages have gone up. – Now the price increase after the summer has slowed down a bit. There has been a long period of rising prices, but now the wage level has also improved a little, says Grini. The municipal sector gets help from teacher salaries Salaries in the municipalities are making strong progress, compared to the private sector. The private sector has often led wages, but not this quarter. – The municipalities are making great strides because of this special situation for the teachers. The teachers had the longest teachers’ strike of all time in 2022, before it was called off. In the private sector, the situation has been the same. Both the government and private sector are therefore behind the municipal sector in wage growth in the third quarter. The top managers are still the salary winners In 2022, the top managers increased their salary more than the employees. In 2022, top managers had a salary increase of 6.9 per cent. At the same time, regular employees had a pay rise of 4.6 per cent. – Managers are generally a bit behind the overall wage growth, but the top managers have slightly higher wage growth than the other managers, says Grini. Managing directors have had a salary increase of 5.5 per cent in the third quarter of this year.
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The differences in pay have increased over the past 25 years – check your industry here – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
