Cyprus earnings up 2.5% y/y in Q1

Despite soaring unemployment the average earnings of the average Cypriot employee rose by 2.5% over the same period of the previous year in the first quarter of 2012 according to the preliminary estimates of the Statistical Service.
Average monthly earnings were recorded at EUR 1,958, with males earning 22% more at EUR 2,139 and females at EUR 1,749.
However, females saw their earnings rise by 3.3% while male earnings rose by 2.5%.
The Statistical Service said that the increase reflected to a large extent the payment of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) on the gross earnings of employees, which rose by 1.39% from July 2011.
Public-sector and unionised employees get two inflation-linked pay rises per year, although the COLA has been suspended for public-sector workers this year.
COLA has long been criticised by the IMF, which arrives in Cyprus this week together with the other members of the troika, the European Central Bank and European Commission.
Cyprus applied to enter the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the EU’s bailout fund, last week.
There was some moderation in seasonally adjusted terms, however.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, earnings rose in seasonally adjusted terms by only 0.1%.
The corresponding increase in the first quarter of 2011 was 0.8%.