Filenews 4 October 2021 - by Theano Thiopoulou
50% of employees in Cyprus are paid a salary of up to €1,500, based on the latest data from the Statistical Service, which show that the low paid increased in 2020.
According to the data, 25.7% of employees in Cyprus receive a gross salary of up to €1,000, compared to 22.4% in 2019. The percentage of employees receiving a salary between €1,001 and €1,500 decreased to 25.2% in 2020 compared to 28.9% in 2019 and 28.1% in 2018. 15.2% of employees receive monthly earnings between €1,501 - €2,000, compared to 16.3% in 2019 and 15.7% in 2018. In 2014, a year after Cyprus was in the course of the memorandum adjustment program, the total number of employees with gross monthly earnings up to € 1,000 was 27.2%.
9.9% of employees receive a salary of between €2,001 and €2,500 compared to 10% in 2019 without any substantial changes over time in this salary category. The percentage of high-wage earners also shows a slight increase, as between €2,501 and €5,000 is received by 6.8% of employees, compared to 6.5% in 2019, a percentage that remains stable since 2010. Over €5,001 per month receives 5.1% of employees from 4.5% in 2019 and 4.1% in 2018.
It is interesting what happens in the very low pay scales as well. From €750 to €999 was the earnings of 10.9% of employees, compared to 13.4% in 2019. 8% of employees receive €500-€749, up from 6.8% in the previous year, while up to €500 they receive 6.8%, compared to 2.2% in 2019. The category with the lowest earnings groups is also the most vulnerable, which is most likely to be at risk of poverty.
According to the aggregated data provided by the Statistical Service, the median salary in Cyprus in 2020 was €1,573, in 2019 €1,556 and in 2018 €1,519. The highest median salary was €1,611 in 2012 and €1,607 in 2011. The lowest median salary was in 2017 and 2016, falling to €1,497 and €1,498 respectively.
Economic inequality is mainly expressed in the income distribution index and the unequal distribution of income index, Gini factor. In 2020, the two factors of economic inequality, with a reference period of 2019, show a decrease compared to the previous year, indicating an improvement in the distribution of household income. Specifically, the index, which looks at the share of the income of the richest 20% of the population to the income of the poorest 20% of the population, reached 4.3% in 2020.
That is, the share of income of the richest 20% of the population was 4.3 times higher than the income of the poorest 20% of the population, compared to 4.6 in 2019. Also, the Gini rate fell to 29.3%, up from 31.1% in 2019. According to data from the Statistical Service, the average annual net disposable income of the household for 2020, with the financial reference year of 2019, was €33,862, presenting a small increase of 0.8% compared to the previous year which was €33,584.
