The average wage in the Czech Republic increased by 6.5 percent to 38,525 crowns in the last quarter of last year. In real terms, after taking into account the growth of consumer prices, monthly earnings increased by 3.8 percent. This follows from data published on Monday by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). In healthcare, salaries increased by 31% year-on-year due to one-off bonuses, and teachers also improved significantly.
For the whole year, the wage rose by 4.4 percent year on year to 35,611 crowns, in real terms it was higher by 1.2 percent. The fourth quarter is higher than the average for the whole of last year, mainly due to the traditional payment of bonus rewards and the thirteenth salary.
The median, ie the average value of wages, increased by 5.4 percent year-on-year to CZK 32,870 in the fourth quarter. Eighty percent of employees received wages between CZK 16,356 and CZK 63,781 per month. The volume of wages increased by 3.5 percent, the number of employees decreased by 2.9 percent.
For men, the median wage reached 35,129 crowns, for women it was 30,281 crowns. But wages grew faster for women in the last quarter. Their median increased by 6.5 percent, for men by 3.8 percent. “One of the reasons may be that women often work in education or in health and social care, where salary tariffs have increased. In addition, health care workers received extraordinary so-called covid rewards in the autumn,” said the CZSO’s director of labor market and equal opportunities statistics. Dalibor Holý.
Real wage growth of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter was the highest in a full year last year. In the first quarter, after adjusting for inflation, wages rose by 1.5 percent, in the third by 1.8 percent, and in the second quarter they even fell by 2.3 percent year on year. This happened for the first time since the end of 2013, when the year-on-year index was distorted by the then tax regulation. Analysts attributed the decline in the second quarter of last year to the effects of coronavirus proliferation and relatively high consumer price inflation.
The highest wages were last year in the field of information and communication activities, where people averaged 62,148 crowns a month. Employees in finance and banking received less than three thousand crowns less.
However, wages in health and social care grew the most last year, which was affected by the coronavirus epidemic. People in these fields took an average of 41,290 crowns, 13.8 percent more than a year earlier. On the other hand, wages fell in real estate or hospitality. The restaurants had to be closed for most of last year, only the service windows worked.
Different development of remuneration
According to analysts, the growth of the average wage in the fourth quarter of last year showed a very different development of remuneration between branches. The growth was mainly due to the payment of rewards in health care and the growth of salaries in education. At the same time, the dismissal of mainly low-income employees also contributed to the statistical increase in earnings. In any case, strong growth in the average wage in the fourth quarter was a surprise, according to economists. “Even the most optimistic estimates did not anticipate such rapid wage growth,” said Komerční banka economist Martin Gürtler.
According to ČSOB analyst Petr Dufek, wage data may look surprising. “However, on closer inspection, we find that not so much is happening in the labor market. Above all, this significant increase in wages is due to the public sector, where salaries have risen sharply again in the last quarter and special bonuses have been distributed,” he said. He added that it is still true that the average wage is rather an imaginary number that most domestic employees cannot reach.
UniCredit Bank’s chief economist Pavel Sobíšek is convinced that the dominant reason for the acceleration of wage growth was the development in the healthcare sector, where wages increased by 31% year-on-year due to one-off bonuses. “This sector, which employs over 300,000 employees, thus added 2.4 points to wage growth in the whole economy. In the only other sector – education – wages grew in double digits, by 10.6%,” said the economist.
According to Raiffeisenbank analyst Vít Hradil, the indirect relationship between wage developments and the number of employees suggests that the current result, although visually sympathetic, is more of a statistical phenomenon. “The pandemic is obviously more often depriving employees of jobs in lower-paid positions, and after their departure, the average earnings increase. At the same time, the data significantly increase the administrative increase in salaries in education and health care,” he said.
Average gross monthly wage and its year-on-year growth in last year and 4th quarter of individual regions:
| Average wage 2020 (in CZK) | Nominal year-on-year growth (in pct) | Average wage in the 4th quarter of 2020 (in CZK) | Nominal year-on-year growth (in pct) | |
| CR | 35 611 | 4,4 | 38 525 | 6,5 |
| Prague | 43 675 | 3,1 | 45 944 | 4,0 |
| Central Bohemian | 36 260 | 3,6 | 38 820 | 5,1 |
| South Bohemian | 32 661 | 5,6 | 35.942 | 8,1 |
| Plzeňský | 34 513 | 4,2 | 37 839 | 7,4 |
| Karlovarský | 31 180 | 4,5 | 34 200 | 7,9 |
| Ústecký | 33 303 | 6,1 | 36 585 | 9,6 |
| Liberecký | 32 837 | 3,5 | 36 081 | 7,1 |
| Královéhradecký | 33 447 | 5,0 | 36 547 | 8,2 |
| Pardubický | 32 095 | 5,0 | 35 425 | 7,5 |
| Highlands | 32 710 | 4,8 | 35 724 | 7,7 |
| South Moravian | 34 597 | 5,4 | 37 814 | 7,7 |
| Olomoucký | 32 435 | 5,3 | 35 734 | 8,3 |
| Zlínský | 31 644 | 4,1 | 34 610 | 5,8 |
| Moravian-Silesian | 32 325 | 4,5 | 35 178 | 7,3 |
Source: Czech Statistical Office
– .
