Standard for what? What are real wages? There is no "real wage" that can be compared across sectors very meaningfully.

What really matters is access to the resources needed to live a fulfilled and healthy life. "Real wages" as measured by discounting nominal wages with a number called "inflation" is a indication of that access. It is imperfect because the measure of inflation is far from perfect. Duh!

Social policy matters much more. Does society care about housing, education, health care, nutrition...? In many places accommodation cost inflation has wiped out many families. Proper housing policy would knock that on the head but in anglophone countries (and now it seems in West Germany too) it has been abandoned. But this study is not about that.

Back to the point: Incomes matter. Wages are one indication of income. Purchasing power matters. Real wages are a indication of that. But a lot else matters. And studying nominal wages on their own is not a pointless task. Nominal wages can be compared across all sectors that use the same currency. Inflation, as a single number, can not. So looking at the changes in prices people face would be interesting too. But that is not what this study is about.