Real wages increase 5% yoy in July

Real wages in Ukraine increased 5.1% yoy in July,
accelerating slightly from 4.8% yoy growth in June, the State Statistics
Service reported on Aug. 27. The average monthly nominal wage rose to UAH
11,804 a month (USD 432) from UAH 11,579 in June, or 2.6% m/m in real terms.

The leading regions for average monthly wages were the
city of Kyiv (UAH 17,053), Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk (UAH 13,071) and
Dnipropetrovsk region (UAH 12,099). The largest nominal average wage increase
was in “other services” (33.5%), medicine and social services (17.9% yoy), and
information and telecommunications (14.4% yoy).

Within the industrial sector, the highest growth of
nominal wages was in electricity and gas supply (20.4% yoy), water supply
(16.5% yoy), and coke and oil production (12.1% yoy).

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: Apparently,
the 0.6% m/m deflation in July contributed
to some reinforcement of real wages growth in July. In the meantime, the growth
of wages amid the recessing economy implies that
the crisis has not had a deeply negative effect on the labor market and that
the demand for labor stays high.