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4.4.2 Nominal wages dynamics
Real wages in Ukraine jumped 10.6% y/y in October, accelerating from 9.7% y/y growth in September, the State Statistics Service reported on November 27.
The average monthly nominal wage amounted to UAH12,174 a month ($430), increasing from UAH11,998 in September, or 0.5% m/m in real terms.
The leading regions for average monthly wages were the city of Kyiv (UAH17,494), Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk (UAH13,544) and the Kyiv region (UAH12,905).
The largest nominal average wage increase was in medicine and social services (54.0% y/y),” other services” (42.1% y/y), and arts, sports, and entertainment (35.4% y/y).
Within the industrial sector, the highest growth of nominal wages was in electricity and gas supply (19.0% y/y), water supply (16.0% y/y), and machinery (9.8% y/y).
We attribute the fast growth of real wages to the minimum wage being hiked to UAH5,000 a month starting September 1, relatively low consumer inflation, and the increased demand for labour amid economic stabilization.
Real wages have been growing since May, hitting 6% y/y in September. “This indicates that job redundancies have been limited and some of them have been recouped,” writes Alfa-Bank Ukraine. “Layoffs now are concentrated in rather small sectors like HoReCa [hotel, restaurant and café].
30 UKRAINE Country Report December 2020 www.intellinews.com
