With the recent positive movement in the exchange rate between the US dollar and Ukrainian hryvnia real wages by results of 2019 financial year looked more optimistic than a couple of years ago. In fact, numbers show that the average Ukrainian salary in USD jumped by 55% within 4 years.
Ukrainian wages on the rise, even in USD
Real earnings in Ukraine increased by 1.5 times, Finance.ua reported.
The data on nominal and real earnings of Ukrainians had been released by Ukrstat, the official statistics department.
How real wages in Ukraine changed in the last years (adjusted for inflation):
- During 2010-2013 salaries were growing by about 10% per year.
- 2014: Drop by 6.5%.
- 2015: Drop by 20.2%.
- 2016: 9% rise.
- 2017: 19.1% rise.
- 2018: 12.5% rise.
- 2019: 9.8% rise.
In total, in 2016-2019 the size of an average pay check went up by 55.8%.
Taking the year 2013 as a comparison, the best year before the financial crisis caused by Crimea’s annexation by Russia and the start of an armed conflict in the East, by 2019 the same level of remuneration was achieved and even exceeded by 19.6%.
Facts
- Minimum wage was increased to 4,723 hryvnia per month (USD 188) or 28.31 hryvnia (USD 1.13) per hour from 1 January 2020.
- This year the government hopes to see salaries going up by 8-9%.
- Some government officials promised that monthly salaries would increase by UAH 2,000 ($80) by the end of the year.
- In Kiev, the average pay check in 2019 was UAH 15,800 ($630), which is about 1.5 times higher than the average numbers country-wide.
These amounts had been calculated as per applicable exchange rate at the time. In March 2020, the exchange rate of USD to UAH dropped by about 15% with the worldwide concerns about the impact of the current economic situation. So, basically, the rise in earnings that was seen at the end of 2019 (as compared to pre-2014 situation) was eaten by the recent economic shake up and the drop of the exchange rate.
The level of remuneration of Ukrainians remains one of the lowest in Europe, but the amounts had been steadily increasing every year. This year the minimum wage in Ukraine became higher than in Russia, although the average pay check is still higher in the Russian Federation.
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