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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Salaries Expected to Decrease Further for Pakistani Working Class in 2020

As surmised by the ECA International Consultancy, the salaried class will continue to bear the brunt of the economic slowdown next year in 2020. Pakistan's working class, already suffering, is in for a shock.

The real salary increase in Pakistan is predicted to remain negative in 2020 owing to inflation and depreciation in Pakistani rupee, claims the report of ECA International consultancy released on Tuesday.

Pakistan is the only country to experience a downward trend in salaries compared to its neighbors, India and China, and other Asian Pacific countries. The report asserts that following a dip in salaries, employees in Pakistan will be less good off than the preceding year.

Lee Quane, the Regional Director Asia at International ECA explained that the unusual rise in inflation will neutralize the pay rise and employees will experience empty pockets. While all the Asian countries in ECA will experience a real-rise in salaries, with five Asian countries securing the top 5 positions in the list, Pakistan is the only Asian country predicted to suffer a downward trend in real salary.

Quane explained “The average real salary increase in Pakistan is forecast to be -3.0%, meaning that employees will be worse off than they were last year. Despite the nominal increase staying at a relatively high 10.0%, inflation has shot up as the rupee has depreciated. Inflation in Pakistan is forecast to reach 13.0% in 2020, exceeding the nominal increase and leaving workers out of pocket compared to 2019”.

Read more: BACK TO SQUARE ONE? – Imran picks Zardari’s former finance minister to fix Pakistan’s economy

Whereas notwithstanding India’s turbulent economy at this time, not only it topped the table of average real salary increase in Asia but also heaved global rankings too.

Quane asserted that employees in India may expect a 5.4% increase in the salary, which will be four times high compared to Hong Kong. Adding that ‘Despite inflation rising slightly from 2019 and the economy slowing slightly, workers based in India can expect to see another bumper increase to their salaries. However, unless growth picks up again salary rises of this scale may not be sustainable in the longer term.’

 

China, Pakistan’s ally and partner in CPEC, win the race as 3.6% real increase in salaries expected for employees in China. It stands eight in the list of the global rankings.