Pakistanis to see drop in their real salaries next year: report

• Pakistan is the only nation in Asia Pacific predicted to see a decrease in their real salary in 2020.
• Inflation in Pakistan is forecasted to reach 13.0pc in 2020, exceeding the nominal increase and leaving workers out of pocket compared to 2019.

Amid rising inflation and depreciation of local currency, Pakistani workers would unfortunately witness a decline in their salaries, according to the latest salary trend report released by ECA International.

As per the report from the UK based international Human Resource consulting company, Pakistan is the only nation in Asia Pacific predicted to see a decrease in their real salary in 2020.

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

Meanwhile, it would be a different scenario for our neighbours India, which not only dominates the rankings for average real salary increases in Asia but now also tops the table globally in 2020 as well. The average real salary increase is set to be at 5.4% for workers in India.

“Salaries in India are expected to rise significantly – almost four times as high than the expected increase in Hong Kong. Despite inflation rising slightly from 2019 and the economy slowing, employees in India can expect to see another bumper increase to their salaries. However, unless growth picks up again, a salary rise of this scale may not be sustainable in the longer term,” said Quane.

Furthermore, the average increase in real terms in the Asia Pacific region is forecasted to be 3.2pc which is significantly above the global average of 1.4pc.