SL’s wage index maintains momentum despite virus drag

• Moves up 1.5% in October, recording gains across sectors

Sri Lanka’s wage growth, measured by the Nominal Wage Rate Index (NWRI) of the informal private sector, gained by 1.5 percent in October from a year earlier levels, continuing a momentum set off months ago. 

The index, which covers private sector employees in agriculture, industry and services, showed gains across the sectors in October, a month for a certain degree was marred by the virus-related restrictions in certain populous regions of the country. 

The continuous gains recorded in the NWRI reflect that the wages keep increasing despite the hardships caused by the pandemic for businesses and individuals.

The sectoral breakdown of the wage performance showed that the wages index in the agricultural sector had risen by 2.2 percent, industry by 1.1 percent and services by 1.6 percent, over the same month, last year. 

Meanwhile, the wage index in the public sector has jumped by 5.7 percent in October, compared to the same month in 2019. 

Sri Lanka had 4.0 percent headline inflation in October, which rose slightly in November to 4.1 percent, according to the Colombo Consumer Price Index. 

The lagging inflation compared to wage growth could keep people better off economically and maintaining this for a prolonged period could uplift the entire population into an upper-middle-income status in the medium term.