Baltic AHK members plan average salary increase of 7.97% in 2023

In response to high inflation and a tight labour market, the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce (AHK) conducted a snapshot survey in January 2023 with around 460 members to identify salary increase trends, according to a press release from AHK.

AHK members in the Baltic countries reported that the average projected wage increase in 2023 will be 7.97%. Still, some industries’ respondents reported wage increases that could exceed 10% or even 15% of their employees’ salaries. The sectors of AHK member companies with the highest projected wage increases in 2023 are IT, industrial manufacturing, transport and logistics, and services.

16% of the Baltic companies surveyed said that they plan to increase wages by 10-12% in 2023, 11% said that wage increases could be in the range of 4-6%, but 2% said that wage increases could be as high as 16%, and only 4% admitted that they do not plan to make any wage increases this year.

It should be added that 89% of the companies surveyed said that they are talking about an increase in the basic salary, while 11% said it is more about lump sums.
Last year (2022), AHK member companies saw an average 9.43% pay increase for blue-collar workers*. Meanwhile, the average wage increase for white-collar workers** was 7.9%.

31% of the respondents to this survey are from Lithuania, 30% from Latvia and 22% from Estonia, but 17% of the respondents work in two or all three Baltic countries.

* A blue-collar worker is a person in the working class who does manual work.

** A white-collar worker works in a professional, office, managerial or administrative job.