Compared to last year at the same time, average nominal October wages in Slovakia were up 5.6% in industry, 9.3% in retail and 9.8% in transportation. Only the construction sector reported an average nominal monthly wage at virtually same level as in 1998 (down 0.1%) while it decreased in wholesale for the first time this year (-1.2%). The Slovak Statistics Bureau released these figures December 7.
When adjusted for increases in consumer prices, however, wages in October were lower in all monitored sectors than in October 1998. In industry, real wages decreased by 7.4%, in construction by 12.4%, in retail by 4.1%, in wholesale by 13.3%, and in transportation by 3.7%.
Growth in employment in retail was 5.7%, while employment in wholesale decreased for the first time in 1999 at -0.2%. Industry also showed a downward trend in employment with a fall of 2.6%, while the construction industry reported a 12% decline. Employment decreased in transportation - for the third consecutive month - by 1.4%.
