As of the third quarter of 2024, the real salaries of Ukrainians have surpassed pre-war levels by 7.2%.
This is reported by the Macroeconomic and Monetary Review of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). The regulator notes that the rapid salary growth is driven by a labor market shortage. According to the State Statistics Service, in the third quarter of last year, nominal salaries increased by 22.3% compared to the same period in 2023, while real payments rose by more than 14%. In the economy, except for education and arts, real incomes have already exceeded the level of the third quarter of 2021, which is considered the pre-war period.
Due to the ongoing war, the State Statistics Service has ceased to publish information about salaries. Therefore, the NBU utilized alternative indicators for its calculations, specifically:
average pension;
average salary for calculating pension payments by the Pension Fund of Ukraine (PFU);
single social contribution (SSC);
receipts of SSC from the private sector;
personal income tax (PIT).
Indirect indicators suggest that salaries continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2024, as noted by the National Bank.
Minimum Wage in 2025: Forecast and Risks
The government has decided not to increase the minimum wage and the subsistence level this year. This may result in a decline in real incomes for certain categories of citizens. In 2025, the minimum wage will remain at 8,000 hryvnias.
Another indicator for comparison is the proportion of the minimum wage to the average wage in the country. In 2025, this ratio is 32.7%, whereas in European countries, it reaches 60%.