Eurozone Firms See Wages Rising by 3 Percent or More, ECB Says

A commuter train passes by the skyline with its financial district ahead of the European Central Banks (ECB) governing council meeting later this week in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 25, 2021. Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

FRANKFURT—Eurozone companies expect wages to rise by 3 percent or more this year as workers demand to be compensated for inflation and it becomes more difficult to find staff such as builders and software engineers, the European Central Bank said on Friday.

Wage growth is a crucial indicator for the ECB in assessing the future path of inflation and setting the timing of what would be its first rate hike in over a decade.