German wages rose at fastest pace on record in second quarter

BERLIN (Reuters) - German real wages rose by 2.7 percent in the second quarter, the strongest increase since records began in 2008, the Federal Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

The data showed the strongest increases on a pre-inflation, or nominal basis, were in eastern Germany and in the unskilled, low-wage sector, suggesting the introduction of an 8.50 euro minimum wage at the start of the year had an impact.

Low inflation also supported real wage growth. For the second quarter, consumer prices rose by just 0.5 percent, pulling nominal wage growth of 3.2 percent only marginally lower.

Real wages have now risen by more than 2 percent in three consecutive quarters. They lifted 2.5 percent in the first quarter and 2.2 percent in the last quarter of 2014.

(Reporting by Noah Barkin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)