Despite a strong economic boom, Danish wage increases are among the lowest in Europe according to a new survey by Eurostat, the EU statistics office, writes Industriens Dagblad – I Dag.

Eurostat’s statistics show that Danish wage increases from the third quarter of 2004 to the third quarter of 2005 were 2.3 per cent. This is the fourth lowest rate of increase among the 25 EU member states. Only in troubled Germany, the EU’s poorest country Portugal and the tourist economy of Malta were wage increases lower than in Denmark.

According to chief economic advisor Peter Birch Sørensen, one reason for the low rate of wage increases is that the outsourcing seen in recent years has made employees fear losing their jobs and the low wage increases have helped maintain Denmark’s competitiveness against foreign countries.