Real earnings growth subtracts inflation from nominal earnings change

Steps:

• Identify nominal earnings percentage change and consumer prices (inflation) percentage change for each country from the table.
• Compute real earnings change approximation: earnings % - prices % for France, Germany, Japan, and UK.
• Compare the resulting differences to find the largest positive value.
• Select the country with the greatest real earnings increase.

Why D is correct:

• UK shows the highest difference between earnings growth and inflation, per the real earnings formula: real % change ≈ nominal % change - inflation % change.

Why the others are wrong:

• A. France has a smaller positive difference than UK.
• B. Germany has a lower real growth rate due to higher relative inflation.
• C. Japan exhibits the smallest or negative real earnings change.

Final answer: D