Average Wages under Exchange Rate Pressure

Average monthly wages in Visegrád Four (V4) countries expressed in terms of Euro values suffered from exchange rate devaluation during the last quarter of 2008. Yet, only Polish wages decreased in Euro-terms compared to the previous quarter. Slovakia, a fresh member of the Eurozone, did not experience an exchange rate depreciation thanks to its set conversion rate. The country's average Euro wage has doubled during the last four years. (More information in updated TREND Analyses' macropresentation.)

Average Wages in Visegrád Four Countries

Note: Bloomberg served as the source of data.

The chart above graphs the development of average monthly wages in V4 countries. Inter-country comparisons are difficult however, mainly due to various definitions of gross wage across the region. Comparing total labor costs or net wages instead might make more sense. Due to higher employer contributions in Slovakia, for exmple, the average gross wage is lower than that in Hungary. When comparing net wages, however, Hungarian salaries have been lower than Slovak ones for the last four quarters.