How Much Do People Earn in Kazakhstan?

Real wages in Kazakhstan are growing slower than inflation and the economy. Those already well-paid are earning more and more, while average wages continue to fall in low-wage industries, Orda.kz reports.

Halyk Finance analysts drew attention to the problems with average salaries in Kazakhstan in their latest study.

According to their data, the average salary in the country amounted to 390 thousand tenge in the third quarter of 2024 —in real terms, this is 2.7% more than in the previous year.

The most noticeable growth in salaries was in telecommunications (+18.2% per year) and finance (+14.7 % %). 

At the same time, finance specialists can count on an average salary of 831 thousand tenge, and IT specialists receive an average of 673 thousand tenge per month. 

The mining industry remains the top dog with an average salary of 854 thousand tenge.

These three sectors with the highest wages employ only 9% of the employed population, while in healthcare, education and public administration, where more than 50% of employees are employed, wages are below average. Moreover, in healthcare and public administration, wages continue to decline in real terms (-0.4% year-on-year and -2.3% year-on-year, respectively), while in education there was a slight increase (1.4% year-on-year) after a decline in the first two quarters of this year, notes Madina Kabzhalalova, head of the analytical center Halyk Finance.

This trend is related to the fact that the state has stopped stimulating the growth of sectors with many public sector employees.

Meanwhile, in agriculture, the average wage has grown by 10.6% over the year but remains one of the lowest: only 284 thousand tenge per month.

While workers in sectors such as agriculture, education, and art receive 30% less than the national average, salaries in the extractive industry are 2.2 times higher than the average.

Despite a significant decline in inflation this year, wage growth still lags behind economic growth, which in the first nine months of 2024 amounted to 4% year-on-year, while historically the growth in wages of hired workers has significantly exceeded the rate of economic growth, emphasizes Madina Kabzhalalova.

Recently, Minister of Labor Svetlana Zhakupova proposed increasing the liability of Kazakhstanis who refuse to work when the state has open vacancies.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny