Automaker Volkswagen and Germany's industrial union have agreed on wage increases that will see pay rise 4.8 percent by next year, the kind of deal that could help the 19-country eurozone raise inflation from current dangerously weak levels.

The company said Friday that workers would get 2.8 percent more on Sept. 1 and then another 2.0 percent on Aug. 1, 2017.

Volkswagen is struggling to overcome the costs of a scandal over cars equipped with software that enabled them to cheat in diesel emissions tests.

Price in Germany fell 0.1 percent in April, and inflation in the eurozone is minus 0.2 percent. The European Central Bank is pumping newly printed money into the economy in an attempt to see inflation that is more in line with a solid economy.