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2024, the difference between salaries and pensions will increase further, inflation will burden the elderly

2025-04-15 07:39:00, Ekonomi CNA

2024, the difference between salaries and pensions will increase further,

The average salary in the country has grown rapidly in the last two years, while the average pension has grown more slowly.

In 2024, the average gross monthly salary reached 77,457 lek, increasing by about 10% compared to 2023, while the average pension resulted in 19,092 lek in October 2024, or 4% higher than the previous year.

Last year, the average pension was 24.6% of the average gross monthly salary, down from 26% in 2023. Ten years ago, the average pension was 32% of the average gross monthly salary.

The purchasing power of pensioners is being further eroded by the widening gap between wages and pensions. The growing gap between the average wage and the average pension deepens the inequality between pensioners and the rest of society.

The acceleration of wage growth in both the public and private sectors is being accompanied by price increases in some basket products that are vital for pensioners.

According to INSTAT's definitions, which are based on international methodologies, a pensioner is considered poor if their monthly payment is less than half of the national average salary. This gap has widened in recent years because salaries are growing at a faster rate than pensions.

The data shows a growing inequality between the layers of society, in this case pensioners and employed people. The gap is likely to widen in the coming years, as the market is signaling higher wage increases due to the new conditions created by the labor shortage.

At the end of 2024, the average salary nationwide was 47% higher than before the pandemic, increasing from 52,380 lek in 2019 to 77,456 lek in 2024. In the same period, the average pension from 16,256 lek in 2019 reached 19,092 lek in 2024 with an expansion of only 17%.

Meanwhile, the wounds of transition are reducing pension benefits. The number of pensioners who do not complete their working years and fail to receive a full old-age pension is growing rapidly. Official data from the Social Security Institute show that, in the first 6 months of 2023, partially paid pensioners accounted for 50% of the total number of people receiving old-age pensions, up from 45% in 2021.

Official data for the first 6 months of 2023 show that there were 503,747 old-age pension beneficiaries, of which 258,312 thousand 51% of beneficiaries received partial payments./ Monitor Magazine