What may prevent a company from increasing wages?

We look at the situations of the United States, Germany, France and the euro zone as a whole. After the COVID crisis, c ompanies very quickly began to report severe hiring difficulties in all these countries. One might then rapidly conclude that there will be a sharp acceleration in wages. But the question then arises as to what might prevent a company from raising wages. A company will not raise wages even when there are major hiring difficulties if: It can offset them with productivity gains; It cannot raise its prices due to intense competition. In the recent period we have seen: In the United States, no acceleration in wages, a sharp rise in productivity gains and a rise in prices: wages are not accelerating even though there is leeway for them to do so; In France, Germany and the euro zone, a slight acceleration in wages, offset by a slight acceleration in productivity; a slowdown in companies’ selling prices , due to competition, which will be a barrier to wages accelerating further.