DUSHANBE, June 3, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- The majority of Tajikistan’s population also has other sources of income besides their salaries, Firouz Saidov, the head of the department for social sphere and market studies at the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, said.

“Of course, an average US$100 salary is too low for current Tajikistan’s realities but it is known that labor migrants annually remit more than 2 billion U.S. dollars to banks in the country,” a senior expert from Tajik think tank noted.

Labor migrants are a critical component in Tajikistan’s economy and remittances keep many families in the country above the poverty line.

“Besides, not all residents of the country work with government institutions, while the Agency for Statistics takes into account only salaries of employees of the federally funded institutions,” said Saidov, “Many people are engaged in private business, have farmland.  Therefore, it is not so easy to determine actual incomes of the population in our country.”

We will recall that the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan reports that in Tajikistan, an average monthly wage rose 12 percent in a month to March 31, 2011, reaching some 472 somoni (equivalent to nearly US$103).  The real wage rate (the wage rate adjusted for inflation) reportedly rose 13.4 percent in a year to March 31, 2011.

In the meantime, an average wage in March stood at US$595 for Kazakhstan, US$326 for Uzbekistan, US$200 for Turkmenistan, and some US$158 for Kyrgyzstan.  In Belarus, and average wage for March stood at US$318, Russia – US$513, and Azerbaijan – US$440.

The minimum wage (per month) in Tajikistan remains the lowest within the CIS area – only 80 somoni (equivalent to US$18.00).

In Tajikistan, the highest average monthly wage is reported in the financial sector – 2,195 somoni.