Most employers expect to raise wages this year, poll shows

A competitive salary attracts job seekers the most.

By: sme.sk

Apr 30 2024
27
3185 Views

Most employers expect to raise

Skilled labour shortages force companies not only to increase wages, but to also expand their employee benefit packages.

The latest survey by Grafton Recruitment shows that more than 80 percent of employers confirmed wage hikes last year, while almost 40 percent of companies confirmed across-the-board benefit boosting, as reported by the SITA news agency.

Eighty-nine percent of employers even expect an increase in wages this year. In fact, employees of all ages say that financial benefits are key for them. “Financial benefits are still in the first place, followed by time off and extra holiday,” said Jitka Kouba, marketing director of Grafton Recruitment and Gi Group. Grafton Recruitment has been monitoring the offer of benefits in its surveys for almost a decade.

The most popular financial benefits include enhanced sick pay and the 13th or 14th salary, as well as holiday allowance and Christmas or other bonuses.

All employees demand various bonuses today, regardless of whether they work in offices or factories, the recruitment agency noted.

In 2023, the average monthly wage in Slovakia was €1,430, up by 9.7 percent year-on-year. However, real wages fell.

(Source: Statistics Office)

As for more time off, it is known that three long weekends and 12 public holidays will fall on one workday in 2024, in addition to the basic holiday leave of four weeks.

Unemployment fell to 5.8 percent last year, meaning that 162,000 people were jobless. In March of this year, it dropped to 5.07 percent, translating into 141,000 unemployed people who can start working immediately.

According to Wood & Company analyst Eva Sádovská, unemployment is again approaching the level reported just before the outbreak of the pandemic. In January and February 2020, unemployment stood at about 5 percent.