“Real wages have not yet gone through the roof”

WirtschaftsWoche: Mr. Jäger, imminent strikes on the railways and work stoppages at airports, plus the most expensive wage agreement of all time in the public sector. You could say: the unions are showing what they can do, right?
Simon Jaeger: Rather no. If wage growth is adjusted for the increase in the price index, then on average a real wage loss can be observed over the last three years. The current wage settlements are of a magnitude that compensate for these real wage losses. At the moment I don’t see workers getting a larger share of the cake that is produced in the real economy. However, it is still too early to make a conclusive assessment.