Wages of Slovaks remained above the inflation rate for the second consecutive year, though their real growth in 2025 moderated to 2.2%

Throughout last year, wages maintained both nominal and real increases. Gross wages in 2025 were thus on average 6.3% higher year on year. Although this was the slowest pace of growth since 2020, real wages increased for the second consecutive year, albeit at a much slower pace.

In the 4th quarter of 2025, the average nominal monthly wage of an employee in the Slovak economy reached EUR 1 739, marking a year-on-year increase by 5.8%. In gross terms, employees improved their wages by an average of EUR 96. When adjusted for inflation, real wage growth in the last quarter of the previous year reached 1.9%. Both nominal and real wage growth continued for the ninth consecutive quarter. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average wage also rose by 1.5% compared to the third quarter of 2025.

In the structure of the economy, all 19 monitored sectors recorded year-on-year growth in average nominal wages. The wage increase ranged from almost 3% in public administration to more than 11% in electricity, gas and steam supply. When adjusted for inflation, real wages decreased in three sectors: in public administration¹⁾ by 1.2%, in administrative services by 0.6%, and in real estate activities by 0.4%. Employees in 14 sectors achieved higher real wage growth than the overall average for the Slovak economy.

In Slovakia´s largest employment sector, the gross monthly wage increased year-on-year by 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to EUR 1 884. Its real value rose by 2.8%. In trade, the second largest employer, nominal wages increased by 5.6% to EUR 1 597. The real wage growth for trade employees reached 1.7%, dropping below the average level for the entire economy of the SR.

Currently, employees in energy supply (electricity, gas and steam) earned the highest average monthly wage exceeding EUR 3 000 in the fourth quarter of 2025. On the contrary, the lowest wages continued to be recorded by employees in accommodation and food services, with their wage slightly exceeding the threshold of EUR 1 000. All 19 monitored sectors thus reached an average wage above EUR 1 000 for the second consecutive quarter.

From a regional perspective, only Bratislavský kraj maintained an above-average wage, amounting to EUR 2 068. In the other regions, wages ranged from EUR 1 411 in Prešovský kraj to EUR 1 685 in Trenčiansky kraj. Nominal wages increased year-on-year in all regions, with the most significant rise of 8% recorded in Nitriansky kraj. However, in real terms, wages rose in 7 out of 8 SR regions, while Banskobystrický kraj experienced a slight decline by 0.8%.

Average monthly wage in the Slovak economy in 2025

In 2025, the average nominal monthly wage of an employee in the Slovak economy reached EUR 1 620, representing a year-on-year increase by 6.3%, or EUR 96. Although the pace of gross wage growth was the slowest in the last five years, it still allowed wages to grow in real terms as well. However, due to higher inflation, real wages rose by only 2.2%, while in 2024 they recorded their highest growth since 2019, reaching 3.7%.

The average annual wage is calculated on the basis of reference quarterly data derived from business statistics and is subsequently also used in calculations in the field of social security.

Last year, average wages increased year on year both nominally and in real terms across all 19 monitored sectors, increasing the least in administrative services and the most significantly in mining and quarrying. The most dynamic real growth, exceeding 4.5%, was recorded in mining, water supply, healthcare, as well as in accommodation and food service activities, where wages have long been the lowest, and this remained the case in 2025. The average gross wage of employees in accommodation and food service activities reached only EUR 969 last year, making it the only sector that still did not exceed the EUR 1 000 mark.

On the contrary, the highest average gross wages exceeding EUR 2.6 thousand were recorded by employees in financial and insurance companies, followed by employees in energy supply (electricity, gas and steam), as well as enterprises in information and communication. A total of nine sectors reported above-average wages compared with the overall economy of the SR.

Among the sectors with the highest number of employees in 2025, industry maintained a higher growth rate. In industry, wages increased nominally by 6.3% to EUR 1 743. Real wages of employees in this sector rose by 2.2%. Trade, as the second largest employer, recorded an increase in the average wage of 6.2% to EUR 1 518. However, real growth of 2.1% was slightly below the nationwide average.

In terms of company size, there was the most significant wage increase in enterprises with 250 to 499 employees, where the average gross wage rose by 7.4% to EUR 1 947, with real growth reaching 3.3%. The second highest growth rate was recorded by enterprises with over 1 000 employees. Over the course of 2025, their average nominal wage rose by 7% to EUR 2,269, while real growth reaching 2.9%.

Although wages are gradually increasing across all regions, though significant disparities remain. The highest average wages for the whole of last year were recorded in Bratislavský kraj (EUR 1 949), while in the other regions they ranged from EUR 1 285 in Prešovský kraj to EUR 1 522 in Trenčiansky kraj. All regions recorded year-on-year nominal as well as real wage growth during 2025. The most notable increase was observed in Nitriansky kraj, where nominal wages rose on average by 9.1% and real wages by 4.9%. A year earlier, Nitriansky kraj had the slowest growth rate among all SR regions.