Kazakhstan’s economic growth outpaces real wage gains

Analysts at Halyk Finance reported that real wage growth was lagging behind the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Q1 2025. Thus, real wages rose by only 1.2% compared to a 6% growth of GDP year-on-year. This is lower than in Q1 2024, when the growth in real terms reached 2.1%.

In their survey, experts pointed to a disproportion in income growth across various economic sectors. For example, telecommunications reported 20% growth in annual terms, while agriculture accounted for only 7.2%. Growth in trade reached 5.9%; in real estate, the figure stood at 4.8%, and in the industrial sector, at 4.4%. Several sectors, however, reported a decline in wages, with the most significant reductions recorded in the administrative and support services sector (-8.3%), construction (-7.2%) and hospitality (-4.7%).

The survey also identified a downward trend in the pace of real wage growth: it dropped from 12.7% in Q1 2022 to just 1.2% in Q1 2025. Analysts believe this decline was linked to a slowdown in nominal wage growth. In 2023, wage growth was impacted by a decline in inflation.

«Preliminary data indicates that from January through April, economic growth reached 6% in annual terms. This contrasts with the hired worker’s wage dynamics. That is why, as we have written earlier, it is necessary to develop all economy sectors, allocate resources to areas with high employment and enhance labor efficiency in order to ensure balanced economic growth and improved citizen welfare, ultimately establishing a more equitable growth,» emphasized Arslan Aronov, an analyst at Halyk Finance.

Notably, Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics reported a nominal average wage of 423,133 tenge (approximately $828, up 10.7% compared to Q1 2024) in Q1 2025, excluding workers employed by small businesses or engaged in entrepreneurial activities. The median wage over the same period totaled 300,307 tenge (approximately $587).