Increased competition for employees is forcing employers to increase salaries, which is contributing to a 14% increase in real wages (adjusted for inflation) in Ukraine, exceeding the pre-war level by the end of 2024. This is stated in the Inflation Report of the National Bank of Ukraine (October 2024).
The shortage of staff in the labour market is contributing to higher wages.
Thus, in the second quarter of 2024, real wages grew by an average of 17.6% year-on-year, while nominal wages increased by 22.1%. According to indirect evidence, the high growth rate of nominal wages continued in the third quarter.
However, increased inflationary pressures led to a slight slowdown in the growth rate of real wages, although they remain high and contribute to the growth of private consumption, the NBU stressed.
‘Already at the end of this year, real wages will exceed the pre-war level and will continue to rise due to significant competition among employers for available labour,’ the forecast says.
Initially, the NBU expected that real wages would return to pre-war levels in 2025.
As a reminder, wages in Ukraine continue to grow, and in dollar terms they are already higher than pre-war levels.
