Over recent years, headline inflation in the OECD, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), reached levels not seen in previous decades, putting pressure on households’ budgets. Prices started to rise towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by supply bottlenecks, rising demand, and public stimulus measures. The war in Ukraine exacerbated inflationary pressures, pushing OECD inflation in 2022 to levels not seen since the 1980s. While it eased over the next three years, headline inflation recently rose again, driven by increases in energy prices.
Inflation and cost of living
Inflation has reached levels not seen in the last four decades in most OECD countries, leading to a rapid increase in the cost of living and particularly affecting low-income individuals. When prices of essentials like energy and food rise rapidly, effective policy responses are crucial to safeguard living standards. They are also needed to share the burden from high inflation between households, employers and governments.
Key messages
Real wages are now growing in virtually all OECD countries. However, they remain below the levels seen in early 2021 – just before the post-pandemic inflation surge – in around two thirds of them. The wages of the lowest-paid workers have proved more resilient: the real statutory minimum wage was higher in January 2025 than in January 2021 in virtually all of the 30 OECD countries with a national minimum wage. As real wages continue to recover, unit profits continue to lose the ground gained during the post-pandemic inflation surge. This reflects the catching-up of purchasing power by wages, and should not be seen as a warning sign of price wage spirals.
For most families their home is the most important and most widely owned asset, as well as the main source of debt. However, there are significant differences in house price developments across countries, but also within countries, across regions and cities.
Context
OECD headline inflation rises to 4.3% in August 2026 as energy inflation surges sharply
Year-on-year inflation in the OECD, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose to 4.3% in August 2026, up from 4.1% in July. Headline inflation increased in 23 OECD countries, remained stable or broadly stable in 12, and declined in only 3. Inflation remained well above the OECD average, at over 5.0%, in Colombia, Iceland, and Lithuania, and exceeded 30% in Türkiye.
Minimum wages
The most direct way to help workers in a time of high inflation is by increasing their wages. Minimum wages and other wage-setting measurements can help mitigate losses in purchasing power and ensure a fair distribution of the cost of inflation between firms and workers.
Minimum wages are struggling to keep up with rising inflation. Currently, 30 out of 38 OECD countries have a statutory minimum wage in place and minimum wages also exist in most non-OECD emerging economies. In the 8 OECD countries without a statutory minimum (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland), sector or occupation-level collective agreements include de-facto wage floors for large parts of the workforce.
