Cyprus wages up 1.9% in Q1

As unemployment climbed in Cyprus workers enjoyed a rise in average monthly earnings, thanks to the widespread practice of linking wages to inflation.
According to the preliminary estimations of the Statistical Service, the average monthly earnings of employees in the first quarter of 2010 amounted to EUR 1,855 (males EUR 2,030 and females EUR 1,638).
This was 1.9% higher than in the first quarter of 2009 (males 1.5% and females 2.8%).
However, the pace of increase was slower than in the previous year, when a rise of 6.7% was recorded.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Statistical Service reported that there was a marginal increase of 0.1% in the average monthly earnings of employees (males -0.3% and females 0.7%).
During the first quarter of 2009 the increase had been 1%.