Average and real monthly wages and salaries
1. Contact
Responsible agency
Unit
Contact person
Position
Email (agency)
Phone
2. Statistical presentation
Data description
Data on average and real monthly earnings are used to measure the overall level of earnings, changes in wages and salaries, and the purchasing power of salaried employees.
Statistical concepts and definitions
Statistical unit
State and local government institution, state and local government merchant, private commercial company, individual merchant, foundation, association and fund employing one and more persons.
Statistical population
Target population covers all statistical units (state and local government budgetary institutions, state and local government merchants, private commercial companies, individual merchants, foundations, associations and funds employing one and more persons) economically active in 2025.
Target population of the survey does not include:
- craftsman enterprises;
- agricultural holdings and fishermen farms;
- family businesses;
- natural persons engaged in an economic activity.
Target population also does not include statistical units the main economic activity code whereof in the NACE Rev. 2 starts with 97 or 98.
3. Institutional mandate
Legal acts and other agreements
N/A
4. Accessibility and clarity
On-line database
5. Comparability
Comparability - geographical
Eurostat (statistical office of the European Union) is responsible for publishing high-quality Europe-wide statistics and indicators that enable comparisons between countries and regions. Statistics for earnings is available in the Eurostat website database section: Labour market / Earnings.
Length of comparable time series
N/A
6. Coherence
Coherence- cross domain
N/A
7. Statistical processing (data source etc.)
Source data
Information is acquired by compiling data submitted by merchants, state and local government budgetary institutions, foundations, associations and funds with quarterly CSB questionnaires (reports) on their activities questionnaires 2-darbs, 2-darbs-pašvaldības, and 2-darbs (īsā)) and administrative data.
Questionnaire 2-darbs (īsā) is submitted by individual merchants, foundations, associations and funds employing 10–99 people. Questionnaire 2-darbs-pašvaldības is submitted by local governments and municipal institutions. All other statistical units included in the sample submit statistical report questionnaire 2-darbs.
Administrative data are acquired from the reports on employees submitted by employers to the State Revenue Service: report on state social security compulsory payments from employee income, income tax and business risk state duty during the reference month, report regarding the employment income, personal income tax and state mandatory social insurance contributions of the payers of the income tax for seasonal farm workers, and micro-enterprise tax declaration.
Data collection
In 2025 a total of 5.3 thousand respondents are surveyed each quarter.
Central and local government bodies, commercial companies with central or local government capital participation of 50% or more, and all private sector businesses with 100 or more employees are surveyed fully. Other statistical units are surveyed using a simple random sampling method, with strata pre-defined by economic activity and enterprise size (based on the number of employees). In addition, all general government sector units – that is, every unit with an institutional sector classification code starting with S13 – are included in the sample, regardless of any other criteria.
The sampling frame was built using information from the CSB Statistical Business Register on economically active units. At the time the sample was drawn, the frame included all statistical units meeting the target population criteria – a total of 100 594 units.
Target population of Q1 2025 | Full-scope survey | Sample survey | Imputed | Total |
Central and local government bodies (Institutional sector classification codes: S130110, S130120, S130150, S130160, S130170, S130310,S130320, S130340 S130400) | 383 | 0 | 0 | 383 |
State and municipal businesses (SVTK* code starting with 1 or 2, or 82, or 83) | 353 | 0 | 0 | 353 |
Private sector businesses (SVTK code does not start with 1 or 2, or 82 or 83, and the third and fourth digits are not 71 or 77; individual merchants with third and fourth digits of SVTK code 71 or 77) | 1 121 | 11 165 | 82 348 | 92 766 |
Foundations, associations and funds (Institutional sector classification code: S15000) | 11 | 239 | 6 842 | 7 092 |
Total | 1 868 | 11 404 | 89 190 | 100 594 |
*SVTK – CSB typological classification of statistical units.
Data compilation
Information is obtained on a quarterly basis (about each month) from statistical surveys. Annual data are obtained by summing quarterly information received during the year. Information obtained from respondents is extrapolated using the weights set for each sample unit. The reported indicators which have been multiplied by weights firstly are summed at class (4-digit), group (3-digit), division (2-digit) and section (letter) level in compliance with the statistical Classification of Economic Activities NACE Rev. 2.
Each quarter, data summaries are analysed to assess the reliability of the results obtained through imputation and weighting of non-responding and indirectly surveyed statistical units. Summary indicators are compared with those from previous periods and with administrative data sources.
Wage and salary indicators cover employees working time whereof is registered and wages and salaries calculated.
The statistics for the general government sector is produced based on the Cabinet Regulations No 1456 on classification of institutional sectors where state institutions also include state social insurance institutions (code S13 04 00). The list of general government institutions and bodies is available in the annex to the regulations and Classification of Institutional Sectors.
As of the first quarter of 2025, data compilation is based fully on the enterprise definition.
The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.
The average monthly gross (net) wages or salaries are calculated by dividing the gross (net) wage and salary fund by the average number employees in full-time units.
Average number of employees in full-time units is calculated separately for full-time and part-time employees for whom wages and salaries were calculated, and the result is summed. Only the full-time employees who were not in labour relations for full month are recalculated into full-time units, and it is done by using information on hours paid of such employees indicated in the reports. Part-time employees are recalculated into full-time units as follows: number of hours paid of part-time employees is divided by the number of hours paid of full-time employees, and the result is multiplied by the number of full-time employees.
The gross wage and salary fund includes basic wage and salary (monthly wage, post wage), remuneration for the time worked or the amount of work done, regular and irregular additional payments and bonuses, earnings related to over-time work, payment for the annual and supplementary vacations, additional payment for vacation, holiday allowances, compensation for the vacation not used, sick pay (medical certificate A), payment for other days not worked, social security compulsory contributions paid by employees and personal income tax, as well as labour remuneration subsidies.