Wages in Moldova are steadily rising, but remain some of the lowest in Europe

The increase of real wages in the Republic of Moldova is a constant one, is one of the basic conclusions contained in the International Labor Organization (ILO) pilot report “The Global Wages Report 2016/2017″ presented today, October 25, by Ding Xu, a wage economist from ILO’s Department on work conditions and gender equality (WORKQUALITY), at a workshop organized by the ILO National Coordinator Office in Moldova, in Chisinau.

In real terms, during the last 10 years, salaries in our country have increased by 60 percent. This, despite the fact that the ILO representative noted that global wage growth has slowed down since 2012. The highest rate of salary growth in the last decade in Moldova was recorded in 2012, when real wage earnings increased 6.4 percent. By the end of the last year, for example, the nominal average monthly salary amounted to almost 5,000 lei compared to 3,000 lei in 2010. For comparison, the salary growth rate in the countries of Eastern Europe is higher compared to the in the European Union, but they have begun to diminish due to the crisis in the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

However, according to Ding Xu, the average salary level in the Republic of Moldova still remains low for Europe. According to him, the nominal monthly average wage, which expresses purchasing power parity as a conversion factor, private consumption in our country is 626 USD. The highest index is recorded by Switzerland, 4,995 US dollars.

“The average salary level in the Republic of Moldova still remains low for Europe” – Ding Xu, ILO expert.

However, unlike the developed countries, where the increase in real wages remained behind as a result of the increase in labour productivity, the ILO expert pointed out that, in the Republic of Moldova, wage growth tendencies are synchronized with those of increasing labour productivity.

Sergiu Iurcu, the head of the CNSM Department of social and economic protection, also present at the event, said that the CNSM has accepted to participate in the workshop organized by the ILO National Coordinator Office in Moldova, because the trade unions have a greater interest in the practice especially in terms of the minimum wage setting experience in other countries, and the suggestions of the ILO experts are very important in this respect.

Pictures from the presentation of the report can be found on CNSM page on Facebook here.

Department of Mass Media and International relations of CNSM