FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Euro zone wage growth will slow sharply this year, as predicted by economists, the European Central Bank’s wage-tracker showed on Wednesday, supporting the bank’s argument that excessive inflation has now been defeated.
The ECB’s wage tracker, which covers active collective bargaining agreements, indicates that negotiated wage growth, with smoothed one-off payments, was 4.6% in 2024 and would slow to 3.2% in 2025.
For the first quarter of 2026, the headline ECB wage tracker stands at 1.7%, down from 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the ECB added.
The figures are broadly in line with previous numbers in the tracker and suggest that wage growth is no longer a concerning issue for policymakers.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi)
