BERLIN (Reuters). Despite a rising inflation rate, the German third-quarter GDP growth was very slow. This leaves consumers with less cash, which can impact future spending.

According to Federal Statistics Office, the average increase in agreed wages among unionized workers was 0.9% per year between July and September. The increase was the lowest since 2010, when the office started compiling data.

Policy makers and central bankers are closely monitoring the evolution of wage rates in the eurozone. They seek to determine if higher consumer prices could lead to higher wages, which could indicate a rise in inflation and cause a price spiral.

Tuesday’s figure contains the basic agreed remuneration as well as the additional payments made for in-wage settlements such one-off or annual extra payments and agreed back payments.

Negotiable wages increased by 1.3% in 2017, excluding special effects related to additional payments in the automotive industry.

The office said that workers experienced a decline in their real wages during the third quarter as consumer prices increased by 3.9% over the past three months.

This weak wage data follows unions securing a 2.8% increase in wages for over a million federal workers. Analysts said that this deal was too small to start a German wage-price spiral.

Future household spending will be affected by the decline in real wage growth. In light of production issues and supply bottlenecks, the only driver of German third-quarter gross domestic product growth was actually the fall in real wages.

Chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz, from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), has said his three-way ruling coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) will raise the national minimum wage by around 25% to 12 euros an hour next year.