Low wages have been harming Central European economies since the crisis. According to a recent study, salaries fell to below 30% of the German average while productivity grew steadily. EURACTIV’s partner La Tribune reports.

The conclusion of the study carried out by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), entitled Why Central and Eastern Europe needs a pay rise, is unequivocal: the economic crisis put an end to two decades of progress on salaries in Central and Eastern Europe.

According to figures collected by researcher Béla Galgóczi, the productivity of workers in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic continued to rise as employment costs stagnated and fell, reviving social competition with the West and locking Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) into a low-cost spiral.

For the ETUI, the mistaken economic policies launched after the crisis are to blame for this reversal in social progress.

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