Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Calculate the top 5% out... Then you probably still don’t have the average of the general population

Have houses in the last 10 years been mainly built by the lower 50% of the population?
I keep reading threads here where people with a net income of 5,000 and up plan/build houses.

Since 2012, I have 40% more... and I am definitely not among the top 5%.

And you think the gross salary of the broad middle is 4100€

I believe 4100 might be the average but by no means the median

And you think the gross salary of the broad middle is €4100

Here we are back at the first lecture in statistics.
Much more meaningful here is the comparison using the median income. Outliers distort the average value too much and make it less useful as a benchmark.

Are you sure that this is the causal chain?

The causal chain is that productivity grows in an economy. If there were no wage increases, the increased productivity could not be sold because who would buy it? Additionally, economies always aim for a slightly >0 inflation so that the private sector does not withdraw money from the economic cycle through too high a savings rate, since the savings of one sector must be the debts of another.

A company sells something, and if everything slowly becomes more expensive, they also make nominally more profit. So they could even compensate for inflation in their wage payments if they themselves do not become more productive. If they can’t even do that, the market will eventually sort them out—and that is intentional.

By the way, in Germany it was usual not to generate sales markets in the domestic country through higher national income, but abroad by withholding wages. This was shown by the extreme current account surplus. Now a bit is happening on the wage front, which is rather normal in other countries, and suddenly everyone is worried about the economic location because we are supposedly losing competitiveness… at the same time, you can’t find skilled workers in any industry.

Completely crazy. The 8.5% IG Metall was also not a final annual figure, if I see correctly, but rather just under 4% annual rate? That would be totally reasonable and normal, with 2% desired inflation and ongoing productivity increases in the economy.

What I mean is getting a raise without an increase in performance, taking on new tasks, a promotion, or more responsibility. I call that inflation compensation, and we don’t have that here. You have to earn a raise with us (no collective agreement, no unions, no works council).

Are you sure about that? That would mean the cleaning lady who cleaned the hallway for €8/hour 10 years ago still doesn't earn more today. She doesn’t do anything better, faster, nicer, shinier, just as clean as always. I don’t think she would still be with you...

I understand what you mean by performance-based increases, but even the low-/mid-performers have to be compensated at least somewhat for inflation over the years, otherwise they would actually be regressing.

Someone wrote that there was no inflation for 8 years. Well, so real estate didn’t get more expensive for 8 years? Inflation can’t just be measured by fuel prices, it’s a whole basket of goods from many areas. I would say it got more expensive every year; something always increased in price.