Average wages - 2nd quarter of 2020

In the Q2 2020, the average gross monthly nominal wage per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee in the national economy increased by 0.5% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In real terms, it decreased by 2.5%. The median wage was CZK 29 123.

In the Q2 2020, the average gross monthly nominal wage¹⁾ (hereinafter only as ‘the average wage’) per FTE employee in the national economy was CZK 34 271, which is by CZK 160 (0.5%) more than in the corresponding period of 2019. In the aforementioned period of 2020, consumer prices increased by 3.1% and thus wages decreased by 2.5% in real terms. The wage volume decreased by 2.9% and the number of employees decreased by 3.4%.

Compared to the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted average wage in the Q2 2020 decreased by 3.1%.

The median wage (CZK 29 123) decreased by 0.2% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The male median wage reached CZK 31 450 and the female one was CZK 26 489. Eighty per cent of employees earned wages within the interval from CZK 14 659 to CZK 56 263.

In the first half-year of 2020, the average wage reached CZK 34 200; in the year-on-year comparison, the increment was CZK 909 (2.7%). Consumer prices increased for the aforementioned period by 3.4%; the wage decreased by 0.7% in real terms.
 

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¹⁾ The average gross monthly wage is a share of wage funds (including extra pay for overtime work, bonuses, compensation of wages, etc.) for one employee per month. Therefore, this does not indicate what wage one concrete employee has. The earnings structure statistics, in which data on earnings of respective employees are available, show that about two thirds of employees have a wage below the national average.

The median wage represents a value of an employee wage in the middle of the wage distribution. It means that one half of the wages is lower and the second half of the wages is higher than the median wage. Unlike the average wage, which is calculated based on background data from enterprise reports, the median must be derived from a statistical-mathematical model based on a sample survey, because enterprise questionnaires contain only aggregated data for a whole enterprise or an organization.

It has to be kept in mind that from the gross wages the employers pay appropriate amounts for premiums for health insurance and social security and income tax advances of natural persons for their employees. The employees are paid net wages.

Notes:
The data are preliminary. Refined data will be available in December 2020.
Responsible head at the CZSO: Dalibor Holý, Director of the Labour Market and Equal Opportunities Statistics Department, phone number (+420) 274 052 694, e-mail: dalibor.holy@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Jitka Erhartová, Head of the Labour Statistics Unit, phone number (+420) 274 052 116, e-mail: jitka.erhartova@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: The direct survey and models of the CZSO; the ISAE (Information System on Average Earnings) model
End of data processing: 21 August 2020
Related data set: 110024-20 Registered number of employees and their wages (the second quarter of 2020),
/current-product/41269
Next News Release will be published on: 4 December 2020