Real wages grew in only three G20 countries – UN

Workers in China, Russia, and Mexico saw their inflation-adjusted earnings rise in 2023, a new report reveals

Only three countries in the G20 saw real wages grow last year, a new report by a UN agency released this week has revealed.

China, Russia and Mexico were the only leading economies that enjoyed positive real wage growth in 2023, the research found. Real wages is a term used to describe the amount of money an individual retains after accounting for the effect of inflation, or expressed in terms of purchasing power as opposed to the actual amount of income.

The paper, called ‘World Employment and Social Outlook. Trends 2024’, was prepared by the United Nations’ International Labour Organization. According to the document, China and Russia saw the strongest gains, as labor productivity growth in those two countries was among the highest in the G20 group.

However, other leading economies saw real wages fall, with the most pronounced declines recorded in Brazil, Italy, and Indonesia, the document says.

“The vast majority of G20 countries with available wage data saw real wages fall in 2023, meaning that wage increases were unable to keep pace with inflation,” reads the report.

Economic growth in the category the UN labor agency defined as Europe and Central Asia continued to decline for the third consecutive year last year, the report noted. In 2024, however, the World Bank expects economic growth to turn around, partly because of stronger performances in Poland, Russia, and Türkiye.

READ MORE: World Bank issues new Russian GDP forecasts

According to the latest projections by the World Bank, Russia’s economy will grow by 1.3% in 2024 and 0.9% in 2025, after having outperformed expectations in 2023.

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