Wages in Germany fell by an average of 0.2 per cent last year, the first drop since the 2009 economic crisis, the federal statistics office says.
The calculation was in terms of the real buying power of wages, allowing for inflation, and the fall bodes ill for efforts to fire up domestic consumption to boost recovery in Europe's biggest economy.
Germany has relied mainly on exports to drive growth.
Citing preliminary results, the statistics office said nominal wages in 2013 were up 1.3 per cent from the previous year, but that consumer prices rose faster, at 1.5 per cent, over the same period.
"One reason for the decline in real wages in 2013 was a decline in bonuses which are frequently performance-related," said a statement on Thursday by the Wiesbaden-based agency, known as Destatis.
If such special payments are not included in the statistic, then real monthly wages would have increased by 1.7 per cent year-on-year, higher than the rate of consumer price inflation, said the office.
