Wages, salaries drop from last month, rise from last year

The working day adjusted wages and salaries sum of the whole economy was 0.4 per cent higher in November 2024 than in November 2023, according to Statistics Finland.

The seasonally adjusted wages and salaries sum of the whole economy decreased by 0.9 per cent in November from the previous month.

Wages and salaries sum increased by 2.8 per cent year-on-year in the public sector in November

The working day adjusted wages and salaries sum was 1.9 per cent lower in the private sector in November than twelve months earlier.

The wages and salaries sum in the public sector was 4.2 per cent higher than a year earlier in the corresponding period.

In the private sector, the seasonally adjusted wages and salaries sum decreased by 2.3 per cent and increased in the public sector by 0.6 per cent in November from the month before.

The working day adjusted wages and salaries sum decreased in November 2024 in all other main industries but increased in the industries of finance and insurance and trade compared to November 2023.

The wages and salaries sum increased significantly in the industry of finance and insurance (11.2 %). The growth was moderate in the industry of trade (0.3 %).

At the same period the working day adjusted wages and salaries sum decreased significantly in the industry of construction (minus 7 %). There was also moderate decrease in the industries of manufacturing (minus 1.7 %), other services (minus 1 %), private education (minus 0.5 %) and private health and social work ( minus 0.3 %).

The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well.