Berlin (Reuters) – Rising wages, stable labor market and best buying mood: The signs are good that consumption this year starts strong.
For the consumers no longer sits money as loose as has long been how the consumer barometer of the Nuremberg market researcher GfK signaled. It rose on Thursday to its highest level in more than 13 years. The tendency to add itself expensive goods, such as cars or furniture, it is not as pronounced as for almost ten years. “These are really good numbers, and it will be a good year for the German consumer,” said economist Ulrike Kastens at Sal. Oppenheim.
The retail sector, which accounts for around 30 percent of total private consumption expenditure, is also optimistic: “It was a very good start to the year,” says the managing director of the trade association HDE, Kai Falk. However, it is still too early to change the prognosis. The retailers aim for 2015 nominal turnover growth of 1.5 percent, following a rise of 1.8 percent in the previous year.
PURCHASING POWER OF THE GERMAN SHALL SUBMIT TO
2014 turned out for German workers in terms of purchasing power as a very good year. She climbed because of low inflation as strong as in years. However, high earners and executives benefited significantly more than low-skilled, the Federal Statistics Office reported. Real wages climbed by an average of 1.7 percent. This was the highest increase since statistics began in 2008. This is due mainly to the low inflation. Thus, consumer prices no longer rose 0.9 percent as weak as five years.
As prices currently only minimal rise in the wake of cheap oil, the buying mood receive another boost. The Nuremberg researchers GfK ask month 2000 consumer whether they think it is currently advisable to make major purchases. The corresponding barometer rose in March the sixth time in a row and scratch the record level reached in the autumn of 2006. According to GfK also promotes the European Central Bank (ECB) with its zero interest rate policy, at least indirectly, the propensity to consume of the Germans: “The alternative – saving – is currently very attractive,” says GfK expert Rolf Bürkl.
In addition, consumers might hope this year to significant wage increases, “And this optimism is not unfounded, “says Bürkl. The first collective agreements in the metal and electrical industry in the amount of 3.4 percent, therefore a “certain signal function” for other industries.
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