11 November 2009

The decline of economic activity in the UNECE region since the second half of 2008 (see UNECE Weekly Nos. 328 and 326) has been accompanied by noticeable slowdown in the rise of nominal average gross monthly wages.

According to available data, wages continued to grow in many east European and CIS countries in the first quarter of 2009, but at a much slower pace than in the previous year. Estonia even reported a slight decrease in wages (in nominal terms for the first time since 1993). Very steep slowdown was recorded in Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, with the year-on-year growth rates dropping from 40-25 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to 7-2 per cent in the first three months of 2009.

Wage growth slowed markedly also in the Russian Federation: from some 30 per cent year-on-year during the first three quarters of 2008 to 13 per cent in January-March 2009. In the rest of the countries depicted in the chart, the drop in the pace of wage increase was less dramatic, with Romania, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan continuing to record double digit rates of wage increase in nominal terms. However, if economic recession prolongs, the wage growth will most likely decelerate further.

Source: National Sources, UNECE Statistical Database