Wages, salaries grow by 3.7% in Q2

The wages and salaries sum of the whole economy was 3.7 per cent higher ,in the second quarter of 2019 than the stipulated period of previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

In June, the wages and salaries sum of the whole economy increased by 1.7 per cent from one year ago. A year ago in April to June, the wages and salaries sum of the whole economy grew by 4.8 per cent.

Due to inadequate accumulation of data, no February to June data will be published for the public sector, so its impact has been eliminated from the development of the wages and salaries sum of the whole economy for February to June.

There was one less pay day Friday in June 2019 than one year ago, which lowered the wages and salaries sum in many industries.

In April to June, the industries of private health and social work (5.9%) and other services (4.4%) grew faster than the whole economy. Growth was more moderate in the industries of manufacturing (3.2%), trade (3.0%), construction (2.7%), private education (2.6%) and financial intermediation (1.7%).

The wages and salaries sum refer to the sum total of the gross wages and salaries paid to employees without incentive stock options. The wages and salaries sum are influenced by changes in employment and in the earnings level of wage and salary earners.