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

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women's salaries have improved in all the income classes, while the men's
have risen in the lowest income groups only. In 2002, the women's net salaries
amounted to about 70 per cent of the men's.
The salary development in the private sector has been positive in all the income
groups. In the public sector, net salary growth has taken place only in
the lowest income classes. The average salary level of highly paid workers in
the public sector has dropped markedly. The salary level has risen at old
workplaces established before 1988, though the salaries there are still lower
than the average. At new workplaces, where the salary level has clearly been
higher than average, there has been a definite decrease in net salaries, particularly
among those earning a high income. On the whole, the reduced purchasing
power of well-paid private-sector workers has evened out the income differences
between the different groups. The change has been due only slightly
to improvement in the purchasing power of those with a small income. The
reason lies rather in the weakened purchasing power of the highly paid, and
therefore the overall salary development appears negative.
LATVIA
In Latvia, the salary development has been positive. When the effect of the
rise in consumer prices is eliminated by deflating the salaries to the 1998 price
level, there is a 17.5 per cent increase on average measured by the median
method. In terms of mean value, the change has been a little smaller, +13 %.
The salary level has thus very definitely improved. The salary growth in Latvia
has indeed been clearly greater than in Lithuania and Estonia.
NET MONTHLY SALARY IN LATVIA, 1998 AND 2002
Deflated to 1998 price level using consumer price index (lat/month)
1998 2002 Change (latis) Change (%)
Median 80 lat 94 lat +14 +17.5%
Mean 101 lat 114 lat +13 +12.9 %
Examined on the basis of deciles, net salaries are observed to have risen in all
the income classes. In Latvia, the rise in consumer prices has not eaten away
the purchasing power of the nominal salaries as has happened in Estonia.