The average monthly salary increases by 15.6% year on year to KZT143,600 in Kazakhstan in the second quarter of 2016.
The highest salaries were paid to Kazakh citizens working in the professional, scientific and technical sphere (KZT308,400, up by 34.2% year on year). Among the top three highest paid sectors also were finance and insurance (KZT300,100, up by 30.7% year on year) and information technology and telecoms (KZT200,200, up by 3.6%).
High paid sectors traditionally are the mining sector (KZT296,300, an 18.2% increase year on year), but the average monthly salary in industry as a whole was KZT186,200 (up by 15.8% year on year). In the processing sector the average wage stood at only KZT147,700 (an increase of 15.9%), power distribution – KZT130,400 (up by 4%). The average salary in the water supply, sewage and waste sector was KZT90,700 (up by 12.9% year on year), which was the lowest paid sector along with agriculture (KZT78,400, a 12.6% year on year increase). These two sectors still have average wages below KZT100,000.
The highest increase in the average wage was in the professional, scientific and technical sphere (34.2%), finance and insurance (30.7%) and education (23.7% to KZT104,400).
Regionally, the highest average salary was in oil-producing regions in the second quarter of 2016 – Atyrau Region with KZT265,200 and Mangistau Region KZT237,300 and capitals – Astana with KZT205,500 and Almaty KZT187,300.
In terms of annual growth, the leader was Atyrau Region (up by 26.2%), West Kazakhstan Region (25.3%) and Kostanay Region (17.6%).
The average nationwide monthly salary increased by 15.6% in Kazakhstan.
At the same time, annual increase in costs of goods and services in the same period outpaced growth in wages and stood at 16.8% (prices of foodstuffs increased by 27.4%, those of non-foodstuffs by 13.9% and services by 10.1%). Moreover, the annual rate of inflation reached 17.6% in August with food prices going up by 28.3%.
It is worth noting that in the second quarter of 2016 the annual inflation rate was highest not in regions with the highest growth in wages but regions with the highest purchasing power (that is the highest wages). The highest inflation rate was recorded in Astana (22.3% year in year with food prices increasing by 43.7% against a 11.9% growth in wages), followed by Almaty (17.8% against a wage growth of 15.6%). As a result, the purchasing power of people in regions with highest wages is falling.
