It had already fallen, by 1.6%, in the first quarter, but was up in the last three months of 2021.
This statistic could give food for thought to the unions which are currently mobilizing to defend the purchasing power of workers. The real income (that is to say, taking inflation into account) of French households, per person, fell in the second quarter, according to the OECD. The international organization figures this drop at 1.2% compared to the previous quarter. That is a loss more than twice as large as the average for the 38 OECD countries (except Japan, for which data is not yet available). In Germany, real income increased by 0.4%.
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In France, it had already fallen, by 1.6%, in the first quarter, but over the last three months of 2021, it was up by 1.2%. All OECD countries, on average, recorded their third consecutive quarterly decline. American households, for their part, have suffered an amputation of their purchasing power for five quarters. Inflation is also, unsurprisingly, at the heart of the concerns of the midterm elections on Tuesday.
“The declines recorded over this long period reflect both the reduction in public aid linked to the pandemic and the increase in consumer prices faced by households.», Explains the note of the economic organization based in Paris.
Since the last quarter of 2019, i.e. before the Covid-19 pandemic, real household income across the OECD has increased by 2%. In France, it fell by 0.3% over the period, while it increased by 0.4% in Germany. The British have suffered a decline in their real per capita income of 3.5% since the end of 2019.
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