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Mr. Average goes shopping

  • How have prices changed in the last forty years?
  • And how many goods could you buy for an average salary? You can choose food, clothing, sports equipment, household appliances, electronics or fuel and energy from the goods to compare. From the services, the prices of fares, tickets, stays in the mountains or professional work of craftsmen.
  • How have you been doing with your salary - fill in the details and find out.

Graph - how much we could buy

Mr Average
Comments:

In the years 1985-1990 prices in October of the respective year, from 1991 the average price per year is given. Prices since 1985 are for species that were commonly sold (served) in the respective years. In a long time series, they are not always completely qualitatively comparable, and their prices are indicative in nature.

 

© Czech Statistical Office 2024

Calculate how much you could have bought yourself

Comments and explanations

How prices are tracked and calculated

We probably mostly remember that until 1990 the prices of a certain product were the same everywhere in our country, but from 1991 they started to differ a lot in different places. Statisticians who monitor prices therefore go to some stores (their number, types and territorial distribution are determined so that it is a "representative sample"), they find out the prices of selected products and from them the average price is calculated (weekly, monthly, annually).

About the average gross monthly salary

Before many of you start cursing the statistics behind the "astronomically high salary" calculated by them, which irritates many, it is necessary to realize that this is not a net salary (that is, what we get in our hands or in our account every month), but a gross salary excluding taxes and insurance. Let's also not forget that this is an average month of the year, so we also have to budget for various extraordinary rewards and bonuses, which are usually paid at the end of the half-year or the year. Still not satisfied with this explanation? So, a small example: let's say that 99 people receive an average gross monthly salary of CZK 13,000 (which is quite below average in 2008) and 1 manager receives CZK 1 million. Although the salary of 99% of the people in this example is well below average, the 100 people monitored have a very decent salary of almost CZK 23,000 on average. It's just that if one wants a whole chicken and the other is starving, then statistically, on average, both of them ate well. Such is simply the statistical arithmetic average, and often also life... And precisely so that you are not dependent only on "averages", you can enter your data - the salary that you received in individual years. Every quarter, the CZSO publishes information on the development of average wages, which they draw from company reporting. This provides reliable data on average wages in the national economy, which can be disaggregated by business perspective, eg by sector and size group; cannot provide a different and more detailed classification. In addition, there are data from structural statistics, which aim to provide the most detailed information on the wages of individual employees using a number of different classifications, especially by occupation, and also provide an insight into the wage distribution, i.e. how wages are spread among employees. The average gross salary is calculated from company reporting data, and the structure by gender is calculated using coefficients determined according to structural salary statistics. Average gross salary data in this application is for informational purposes only. Since 2000, wages have been recalculated according to a new methodology, so the whole series is not fully comparable. More information about the average gross salary and its calculation methodology can be provided by the information services department at infoservis@csu.gov.cz.

 

Explanations - How much could I buy