Nominal wages also rose dynamically at the beginning of 2024, but at a slower pace than at the end of last year

In nominal terms, wages increased in all sectors, but only in industry by double digits. During the first month of the year, only the employees of the information and communication sector had lower wages in real terms compared to the previous year. Employment increased slightly in 6 out of 10 sectors monitored monthly, its decline deepened in industry.

The average nominal monthly wage in January 2024 was higher year-on-year in all 10 sectors monitored monthly. Growth compared to last year's January ranged from 1.9% in information and communication to 11% in industry. After excluding the impact of inflation, which was although decreasing, is still above the long-term average, most sectors also achieved a real wage growth. The highest real growth of wages above the level of 5% was reflected in the wages of employees in industry, in transportation and storage and in retail. Information and communication was the only one among the 10 monthly monitored sectors where real wages decreased year-on-year, by almost 2%.

The Statistical Office of the SR would like to inform that since the publication of the data for January 2024, all absolute values and values of year-on-year and month-on-month indices for monitored period have been re-calculated due to methodological adjustments – transition to a new base period (from 2015 to 2021) and application of the concept of kind-of-activity units of enterprises²⁾ (PDF - 152 kB). The change relates to all monthly indicators of sectoral statistics.

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In the first month of 2024, employment³⁾ rose in 6 out of 10 sectors monitored monthly. The increase in the number of employees above the level of 4% was in selected market services and also in information and communication. A slight increase above the level of 2% was in accommodation, construction, and also in sale and repair of motor vehicles. The decline in employment continued in industry, the sector recorded a lower number of employees by 2.1% than a year ago. Lower employment in this sector has continued for 23 consecutive months, and the current rate of decline is the most significant since May 2021. Three other sectors also recorded slight employment drops: wholesale, retail, and food and beverage service activities.