In the fourth quarter of 2024, the average gross monthly nominal wage per headcount in the national economy increased by 7.2 % compared to the same period of the previous year, with a real increase of 4.2 %. The median wage was CZK 41 739. Economic activity of the population rose to record levels, while unemployment stagnated. Wage growth continued to be hampered by the education, public administration and defence sectors, where wages declined year-on-year in real terms.
"In Q4 2024, the average gross monthly nominal wage per headcount increased by 7.2 % to CZK 49,229 compared to the same period last year. After taking into account the effect of inflation, wages rose by 4.2 % in real terms. In the full year 2024, inflation was 2.4 % and nominal wage growth was 7.1 %. So in real terms, wages increased by 4.6 %," comments Jitka Erhartová, Head of the Labour Statistics Division of the CZSO.
In Q4 2024 the average gross monthly nominal wage was*) (hereafter "average wage") for the adjusted number of employees in the national economy totalled CZK 49 229, which is CZK 3 322 (7.2 %) more than in the same period in 2023. Consumer prices increased by 2.9 % over the period, so wages rose by 4.2 % in real terms. Wages increased by 7.4 %, the number of employees increased by 0.1 1 %.
Compared to the previous quarter average wage growth in Q4 2024, seasonally adjusted, was 1.7 %.
In the sectoral breakdown by CZ-NACE sections, the highest growth in average wages was compared to the same period in 2023 recorded in real estate activities (16.0 %), professional, scientific and technical activities (12.2 %) and accommodation, food services and drinking places (10.3 %). The lowest growth occurred in mining and quarrying (1.2 %), public administration and defence; compulsory social security (2.3 %) and education (2.3 %).
Median wages (CZK 41,739) increased by 4.2 % compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching CZK 45,004 for men and CZK 38,643 for women. Eighty percent of employees received a wage between CZK 21 577 and CZK 80 431.
In 2024 The average wage reached CZK 46 165, an increase of CZK 3044 (7.1 %) year on year. Consumer prices increased by 2.4 % over the period, so the real wage rose by 4.6 %.
"Overall, the wage level increased by a third (33.5 %) in nominal terms over the five-year period under review. However, it decreased by 4.5 % in real terms as consumer prices increased by almost 40 % (39.8 %) over the period," communicates in its analysis Dalibor Holý, director of the Czech Statistical Office's Department of Labour Market Statistics and Equal Opportunities, adding that the data are still preliminary.
From the employees' point of view, the real trend is more important, comparing earnings growth with price growth to show how much of the goods and services an employee's wages could buy. The consumer price index reached 2.9 % in Q4 2024, so in real terms the average wage increased by 4.2 % year-on-year. For the whole of 2024, this is an increase of 4.6 %. This higher increase implies a tightening of the increased price level (see chart below) and comes after two years of significant year-on-year declines in real wages, with a decline of 9.4 % in 2022 and 2.4 % in 2023.
Consumer price index and average wage index (seasonally adjusted), 2019=100 %:
However, wage dynamics varied widely by sector. The highest nominal year-on-year increase (16.0 %) is currently found in the real estate activities section. This is followed by professional, scientific and technical activities with 12.2 % and accommodation, food services and drinking places with 10.3 %. The other sections were below the 10 per cent threshold. Construction came closest with 9.9 % and then health and social work with 9.2 %. Employees in these sectors saw their real purchasing power of wages increase significantly year-on-year.
The situation was quite the opposite for two other sectors, with a total of 644,500 employees. In education and in public administration and defence, the wage level increased by only 2.3 % year-on-year, which was below the inflation rate (2.9 %). This means that employees in these two state-dominated sectors experienced a further fall in real wages in Q4 2024, following the previous three years of declining purchasing power.
Another exceptional situation occurred in mining and quarrying, where, while the number of employees fell dramatically (by 7.8 %), there was also a negligible increase in average wages of CZK 663, representing 1.2 %, the lowest of all sections. Excluding these three sectors, real wages of employees currently increased year-on-year.
The highest wage level can be found in the 4th quarter of 2024 in information and communication activities, where the average wage reached CZK 85,270 and increased by 7.3 % year-on-year, which in this case represented an increase of CZK 5,782. The second place was held by money and insurance with a level of CZK 74,615 (an increase of 6.8 %) and the third place was held by the production and distribution of electricity, gas, heat and air conditioning with CZK 72,424 (an increase of 4.7 %). This trio has been leading for a long time.
Traditionally, the order was also from the opposite side. In accommodation, catering and food services, the average wage was still the lowest (CZK 29,126) despite a significant relative increase (by 10.3 %). The second lowest average wage remained in administrative and support activities, where it increased by 8.6 % to CZK 33 763. Other activities came third with CZK 38 372 (an increase of 8.7 %), followed closely by agriculture, forestry and fishing in fourth place with an average wage of CZK 39 473 (an increase of 6.4 %).
Regional development
In terms of the number of employees, the vast majority of regions again experienced a year-on-year decline in Q4 2024. The most significant decrease of 1.3 % was in the Moravian-Silesian Region, followed by the Hradec Králové Region (by 1.1 1 %) and then the Karlovy Vary Region (by 0.9 %). In the Liberec and South Bohemian Regions, there was a decrease of 0.8 %, and in the Ústí nad Labem Region by 0.7 %. A massive increase of 2.2 % in Prague was again the main factor in balancing the overall balance; smaller increases were also recorded in two other regions: the Central Bohemian Region with an increase of 0.2 % and the Pilsen Region with 0.1 1 %. The South Moravian Region stagnated.
The regional dispersion of average wages in Q4 2024 is much smaller than in the industry classification. In nominal terms, wages grew between 5.0 % and 9.0 %. The highest wage growth was in the Pardubice Region (9.0 %), followed by the capital city of Prague (7.9 %), then the Olomouc (7.5 %) and Zlín (7.4 %) Regions. In the other regions, growth was below average. The Karlovy Vary Region was the worst performer, with average wages rising by only 5%. In the Ústí nad Labem Region, it increased by only 5.4 %, and in the Vysočina Region by 6.0 %.
In terms of absolute earnings, Prague remained the richest region, with an average wage of CZK 59 870. The second place was held by the Central Bohemian Region with CZK 49,442 and the third place was traditionally occupied by the South Moravian Region (CZK 48,807). The Plzeň region (46,767 CZK) surpassed the 46,000 CZK threshold, while the others remained below it. The Karlovy Vary Region, on the other hand, remained the region with the lowest wage level (CZK 42 284) and the only one currently below the CZK 44 000 threshold. In the Moravian-Silesian Region, the region with the highest number of employees (409.2 thousand) after Prague, South Moravia and Central Bohemia, the average wage reached CZK 44,660.
Median and decile wage ranges, gender breakdown
The Q4 2024 snapshot also includes the median wage figure, which is calculated from a mathematical model of the distribution and shows the wage of the median employee, i.e. the current wage level; at the same time, the outer deciles have also been calculated and the previous period's figures have been revised. In Q4 2024, the median wage reached 41 739 CZK, which is 4.2 % (1682 CZK) more than in the same period of the previous year.
The tenth of employees with the lowest wages received gross wages below CZK 21 577 (the bottom decile increased by 6.6 % year-on-year), while the tenth with the highest wages had wages above CZK 80 431 (the top decile increased by 2.4 %). The decile ratio thus reached 3.73.
The median wages of men were higher than those of women, with the median wage for women in Q4 2024 being CZK 38,643 (up by only 2.9 % year-on-year), while for men it was CZK 45,004 (up by 6.3 %). The gender gap in median earnings thus increased by 2.8 percentage points year-on-year to 14.1 1 %.
At the same time, men's wages were spread over a much wider area, with the high earnings area in particular being significantly higher than for women: women had a top decile of CZK 71 279 and men CZK 89 366, making the high earnings gap 20.2 %. In low earnings, on the other hand, the difference was weaker: women had a bottom decile of CZK 20 982 and men CZK 22 239, a gap of 5.7 %.
Average earnings information system (ISPV) also tracks employee earnings by nationality. Of the large groups of foreigners, Ukrainians are now the most represented in the Czech Republic, where the number of records has further increased by a tenth year-on-year, while the numbers of Bulgarians and Poles have decreased significantly. Slovaks had the highest median wage of these groups in the Czech Republic (CZK 48 092), which was even 14 % higher than for employees with Czech citizenship (CZK 42 069). On the other hand, the median wage of Ukrainians was 23 % lower than the Czech median wage (32 560 CZK), but increased by 7.5 % year-on-year. Wage levels were also lower than the Czechs for the other three smaller groups, i.e. Bulgarians (lower by 12 %), Romanians (lower by 8 %) and Poles (lower by 5 %). However, they increased faster year-on-year than the Czechs, with the fastest increase of 11.6 % for Romanians.
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