Average wages - 4th quarter of 2020

In the Q4 2020, the average gross monthly nominal wage per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee in the national economy increased by 6.5% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In real terms, it increased by 3.8%. The median wage was CZK 32 870.

In the Q4 2020, the average gross monthly nominal wage¹⁾ (hereinafter only as ‘the average wage’) per FTE employee in the national economy was CZK 38 525, which is by CZK 2 363 (6.5%) more than in the corresponding period of 2019. In the aforementioned period of 2020, consumer prices increased by 2.6% and thus wages increased by 3.8% in real terms. The wage volume increased by 3.5%; the number of employees decreased by 2.9%.

Compared to the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted average wage increased by 1.9% in the Q4 2020. 

The median wage (CZK 32 870) increased by 5.4% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The male median wage reached CZK 35 129 and the female one was CZK 30 281. Eighty per cent of employees earned wages within the interval from CZK 16 356 to CZK 63 781.

In 2020, the average wage reached CZK 35 611; in the year-on-year comparison, the increment was CZK 1 500 (4.4%). Consumer prices increased for the aforementioned period by 3.2%; the wage increased by 1.2% 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 specific 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 an entire enterprise or organisation.
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 June 2021.
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: 19 February 2021
Related data set: 110024-20 Registered number of employees and their wages (the fourth quarter of 2020),
/current-product/41269
Next News Release will be published on: 4 June 2021