In Kazakhstan, the top earning salary reaches 4.5 million tenge. Who holds this lucrative position?
In the second quarter of 2022, the average monthly nominal salary in Kazakhstan stood at 312,000 tenge, according to recent data. This figure represents a slight increase from previous years, but the pace of wage growth continues to lag behind other economic indicators.
The highest average monthly salaries are recorded in Atyrau (506,000 tenge), Mangystau (459,000 tenge), and the capital (393,000 tenge). However, these figures are still well below the 4.5 million tenge per month, the highest reported salary in 2021, received by a manager in the civil engineering field.
The slow wage growth can be attributed to several factors. The high cost of living in major cities, such as Almaty and Astana, strains disposable income and suppresses wage growth pressures. Outside the capital, there is almost no rental housing market, which limits labor mobility and constrains workers' ability to move to higher-paying urban jobs.
Moreover, a growing proportion of the population lives below the living wage, while unemployment levels and income inequality remain high. These factors are linked to lower wage growth and a deteriorating living standard. Regional economic disparities also contribute to the issue, with wage growth being slower in areas outside the main cities.
In 2021, 28.4% of people received a salary of more than 275,000 tenge. Less than 0.1% of the total number of workers received more than 3.9 million tenge, a figure that was recorded by a director in the oil and gas extraction sector and an investment project director in the wholesale and retail trade, car and motorcycle repair sectors.
While the data provided is for the second quarter of 2022, it suggests that the challenging environment created by these factors continues to slow wage growth in Kazakhstan, reflecting structural socioeconomic constraints rather than short-term economic fluctuations.
The slow wage growth in Kazakhstan, as shown by the data, can be linked to high living costs in major cities, the lack of rental housing market outside the capital, low income levels and high unemployment rates, and regional economic disparities. In contrast, the highest average monthly salaries are observed in the finance sector with figures exceeding 4.5 million tenge, highlighting the significant discrepancies between industries and regions in terms of business earnings.
