While the Fed raised the fed funds rate by 25 basis points in June and has signaled two more increases this year and three the next—while continuing to 4  downsize of its balance sheet—the European Central Bank extended its asset purchasing program and signaled that the benchmark rates will stay put for a while. The trade dispute between the US and China has continued to escalate. So far, the tariffs applied by the US and the reprisals have been limited, but the conflict has not subsided, and the measures adopted are already having an impact on risk perceptions, and the markets are more sensitive to them. As detailed in a Box in this Report, the effects that these measures may have on the global economy are difficult to quantify, as they depend on the number of countries that would be directly and indirectly involved, the amounts levied, the sectors affected and the time during which the higher tariffs would be applied. However, there are some qualitative dimensions and certain transmission channels common to the different possible scenarios. For the economies directly involved, there would be a negative impact due to lower external demand and greater uncertainty, which would affect local consumption and investment decisions. The size of the impact is related to the importance of trade among those directly involved and their ability to divert it to other economies.
However, if developments in the real economy are to be satisfactory over time, real wage growth must be adapted to underlying productivity growth. A precondition for countering a possible downturn by means of monetary policy easing is slower growth in labour costs. Monetary policy cannot prevent an increase in unemployment that is caused by a significantly higher rate of growth in labour costs in Norway compared with other countries. Nor can an expansionary fiscal policy counter a cost-driven rise in unemployment. Growth in real wages is far higher than the underlying growth in productivity. If higher costs cannot be 1 passed on to customers, earnings decline and the wage share increases . Many businesses will have to adjust their workforces to maintain profitability. This leads to a fall in employment and increased productivity. For some companies, this may be a prerequisite for maintaining operations in Norway. The alternative is to close down or relocate production to another country. While the wage share has risen sharply in manufacturing, it has remained fairly stable in other industries. Import firms have wider margins, suggesting that the appreciation of the krone has not fully benefited customers. We also know that employment in some service industries has fallen. Many companies in the service sector have adjusted their workforces to maintain profitability. To some extent, higher costs can also be passed on to customers through higher prices in this sector. Manufacturing employment is declining.