The real drop in wages in October was already evident in all sectors monitored monthly

Although employment in the Slovak Republic grew, in three of the ten monitored industries, the number of employees decreased. The decline of employed in selected market services accelerated. In the tenth month, wages definitively lost the battle with inflation, as many as half of the monthly monitored sectors of the economy recorded a year-on-year real decrease of more than 7%.

According to data provided by mostly large enterprises, in October 2022 the number of employed persons¹⁾ year-to-year rose in 7 of the 10 monitored sectors of the economy.

More significant growth, approximately 11%, was recorded only in the sectors of accommodation as well as in companies running business in food and beverage service activities. However, both these branches are still struggling with the lack of employees they lost during the two pandemic years. The number of employees was also higher by 4.1% year-on-year in information and communication, and by more than 2% in transport and storage as well as in retail trade. On the contrary, the decrease in employment was in selected market services by 1.7% and in the largest employer sector – in industry, in which employment has been lower year-on-year for eight consecutive months. A slight decrease in employment was also registered in the wholesale.

From the beginning of the year to the end of October 2022, employment increased year-on-year in 9 out of 10 monitored sectors, most significantly in accommodation by 9.3%, in food and beverage service activities by 6.7% and in information and communication activities by 5%. The number of persons employed in industry continued to decrease, by 0.7%.

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Development of the average wage in the SR in October 2022

The average nominal monthly wage²⁾ in October 2022, grew year-on-year in all ten sectors of the economy, from less than 3% in food and beverage service activities to 14% in accommodation or in construction. However, the high growth of consumer prices (inflation) caused real wages to fall year-on-year for the first time in all sectors. The most affected was the sector of food and beverage service activities, where real wages fell by 10.4%. The decrease in real wages by 7% or more was in wholesale, information and communication, in the sale and repair of motor vehicles, but also in selected market services. The decrease in wages of less than 1% was in accommodation and construction.

The nominal monthly wage for the ten months of 2022 increased from 5 to 19% year-on-year on average in individual branches. Only the sector of accommodation, in which real wages rose by more than 6% since the beginning of the year, was resisted to the high rate of inflation. Thanks to the increase in wages, accommodation in the ranking of the lowest wages is moving to the lower rungs and has overtaken, for example, the construction. Real wages fell in the other nine sectors, the most, more than 6% year-to-year, in selected market services and in information and communication. A more significant decline was also registered in industry, which employs more than half a million persons. Year-on-year real wages in industry fell by 3.6%.