The Danes now earn more than we do – E24

– The chief economist said the overall improvement in purchasing power since the turn of the century has disappeared.

The fall in the krona in recent years means Norway ranks among Europe’s highest-income countries according to Eurostat.

Statistics show the average hourly wage in the private sector in the EU and EEA (in Euros).

Denmark will overtake Norway in 2023. The average wage there is currently 42 euros per hour, while the average wage in this country is 41.7 euros per hour.

Free Trade Movement These numbers have been discussed before.

From top to bottom

The Danish National Bank ensured that the Danish krone remained stable against the euro. According to data provider Infront, on Saturday morning, 1 Danish krone was worth 1.57 Norwegian krone.

According to statistics, in recent years, as the Norwegian krone weakened, Norway’s wage level has declined. In 2021, Norway ranked first, but fell to third last year.

Luxembourg tops the 2023 ranking with an average hourly wage of €47.2. At the bottom of the ranking are Bulgaria and Serbia, with hourly wages of €8.1 and €8.3 respectively.

See below for a complete overview:

Purchasing power returns to 2000 levels

– Kjetil Martinsen, chief economist at Swedbank, told E24 that Norway has seen a particularly sharp rise in wages through the oil boom.

Part of that wealth is used to increase workers’ purchasing power because Norway can afford it, he said.

– In the past ten years NominalNominalNominal income indicates an amount of money, which is usually what you mean by “income.” Real income indicates the actual value of that amount of money (i.e., what you can buy with it). Domestic wage developments are similar to what we see in important trading partners such as the Eurozone, Sweden, Denmark, the UK and the US.

Infront data shows that during the same period, the krona depreciated by 30.5% on the import-weighted exchange rate index I44:

– This means that our wages have fallen dramatically. Measured in relative wages in the common currency, we have wiped out the entire improvement in purchasing power that we had over the millennium, Martinson said.

– Apart from the weak kroner, are there other factors that contribute to the decline in our statistics?

– You could also say the other way around, one of the reasons we were ahead was that we had strong wage growth until the oil recession in 2014. Then the krona depreciated significantly.

– Transition should be facilitated

– Is there any benefit to this?

– demand lower wages, so you can see that we are devaluing the krona by floating it. This is a symptom that we are getting poorer, but at the same time it is better than a sharp rise in unemployment, Martinsson said.

He noted that unemployment had risen in the eurozone following the so-called “economic crisis”. Euro crisis 2011.

– There is no other comparison. In addition, a weaker krona should facilitate the transition away from the oil industry. “I’m not sure how successful it will be,” said the chief economist.

Martinsen argues that we have to look back to the decade after 2000, a period of particularly high wealth growth in Norway, and used to see the kroner’s purchasing power weaken.

– We have the raw materials that the world needs most (oil, journal notes). With that comes foreign investment and a stronger krona. I’m afraid we won’t get back to those levels simply because the products we excel at making are no longer so “hot”.