With growing wages at home, fewer Lithuanian people are choosing seasonal work abroad, say employment experts.
“There has always been a problem finding enough people from EU countries willing to come and work, simply because the wage difference is no longer that large,” says Gintarė Januškaitė, owner of the employment agency Darbai Svetur.
“We have noticed that for several years now Lithuanians have been saying that similar wages can be earned in Lithuania — so why go abroad for a difference of €100 or €200?” she adds.
And while pay for unskilled work abroad still tends to be 30–40% higher than in Lithuania, the cost of living there is also higher, according to experts.
Indrė Genytė-Pikčienė, chief economist at the Artea bank, says that the country’s labour market has changed significantly in recent years. Wages have risen faster for lower-income earners, while income growth in high-value-added sectors has been more subdued recently.
She notes, however, that wage growth in Lithuania has been among the fastest in the EU.
“Only Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary have outpaced Lithuania – the country ranked fourth in terms of labour cost increases,” she says.
Although Lithuania is among the EU leaders in wage growth, its overall wage level remains among the lower tier of EU countries, Genytė-Pikčienė adds.
“According to Eurostat data, if we compare hourly labour costs in the business economy and take the EU average as 100%, Lithuania stands at just 48.8%,” she says.
“In terms of hourly labour costs, we are sixth from the bottom – the country is only ahead of Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria,” Genytė-Pikčienė says.
According to her, this is due to structural factors: many economic activities in Lithuania still rely on relatively cheap labour, while industry is dominated by traditional sectors that are intensive in unskilled work.
It’s also important to look at the prices in the country to understand whether the wage growth has been sufficient.
“When it comes to prices, it is natural that many services – especially public services – remain significantly cheaper than in Western countries. However, average prices for food, footwear and clothing have already reached the EU average, and in some categories even exceed it,” she says.
She stresses, however, that such indicators are only indicative, as individuals assess their personal situations differently.
Compared with Western European countries, Lithuania has important advantages that are not always measured in monetary terms.
“Lithuanian cities are compact and easy to get around, compared with large Western European cities. Quality of life – which is not always directly measurable in monetary terms – is, in this case, quite attractive and convenient,” Genytė-Pikčienė adds.
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