was certainly very favourable. Though wages did begin to drift upwards as the labour market tightened, there was every prospect that they would lag behind prices and profits in the up-coming recovery. And, perhaps most importantly, Hitler’s regime promised to free German firms to manage their own internal affairs, releasing them from the oversight of independent trade unions. In future, it seemed, wages would be determined by the productivity objectives of employers, not the dictates of collective bargaining.
