Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

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In both of the years under study, the wage payment of a clear majority in
Lithuania has been based simply on a fixed monthly salary; besides the fixed
salary, only just over four per cent of the wage earners get regular additional
payments based on the length of the employment relationship, for instance. In
Latvia and Estonia, regular additions associated with the basic monthly salary
are more common.
For about one-fifth of the workers in the Baltic countries, the size of their salary
depends entirely on result - e.g. sales quantity or the equivalent. The proportion
is slightly greater in Lithuania than in the other two countries. In Estonia
and Latvia, the use of merely result-based pay has decreased a little within
the last three years. Very few in Lithuania receive pay consisting of a fixed
monthly salary plus variable additional payments. In Estonia, too, fewer than
before receive such additions.
In all the Baltic countries, men's salaries are clearly more variable and flexible
than women's. Similarly, work is done on a fixed salary in the public sector to
a much greater extent than in the private sector. The gap between the genders
comes to the fore within the different sectors, too. At older workplaces established
before the regaining of independence, variable salaries are clearly less
common than average in comparison with new workplaces.
FACTORS AFFECTING SALARIES
Traditionally - when work has been done on an hourly wage, for example - the
size of the salary has been directly proportional to the amount of work. In recent
years, quality factors have also been emphasised besides the amount, and
the salary size has been partly related to the quality of the work. At many
workplaces, in addition to the above, it has become increasingly common for
wages to be tied to the workplace result. Various result bonuses, other bonuses
or the equivalent may be paid.
On the whole, factors like these have a very strong link with salary size in Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania. This is seen when the situation is compared with
that in Finland. Underlying this, obviously, is at least the fact that wages in the