I don’t like to repeat myself, so I’m glad that this year I can’t say “I wish I could get a 4.5% raise, but then again, I’m not the Prime Minister.” A year ago I pointed out that Prime Minister Göran Persson got a higher raise than the average worker. This year Persson settles for a 4.3% raise, from 116,000 kronor to 121,000 kronor.
It’s good to see that Persson increases the gap to the voters. The estimated (pdf) actual salary increase in the local sector for 2006 is 3.8% and the increase in hourly wages in the private sector is estimated to 3.6% this year and 4.1% next year.
Update: In 2002, Gunnar Grenfors explained the strategy of Statsrådsarvodesnämnden, the committee that decides the salaries for the ministers: “The ministers shall be compared with the elite”.