According to the survey, most Lithuanian workers can expect to take home more litai next year. Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh/Baltic Reports
VILNIUS — A new survey conducted by the Hay Group indicates that more than a third of Lithuanian employers plan to increase salaries next year.
As with other economic indicators, wages in the Baltic states have been on a rollarcoaster over the past decade, shooting up from 25 percent of the European Union average to 65 percent during the “Baltic Tiger” boom only to be dragged down roughly 20 percent by the deep recession the countries experienced as firms cut costs to stay afloat and employers took advantage of widespread unemployment.
What few new jobs there are offer low salaries, requiring master’s degrees but typically paying 1,000 litai (€290) or less per month.
As a result Lithuania say a record year of emigration in 2009. Now that the economy is recovering, posting in the second quarter of this year its first year-on-year gross domestic product growth since the crisis hit, employers say they anticipate having to begin increasing wages again to keep quality personnel.
However, the survey shows that only 2.3 percent of companies plan on additional wage cuts and that 41 percent plan on increasing wages in 2011 and 35 percent plan on increasing wages this year.
The survey including 214 participating companies and analyzed the pay levels of 60,000 workers.
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