"The bargaining power is currently on the side of the employees. (...) We have economic growth, we have had long-term unemployment for a very long time, businesses know it is very hard to attract employees and they are raising wages accordingly, and the companies themselves are in a very good financial situation," Aleksandras Izgorodinas, economist with Citadele Bank in Lithuania, told reporters on Wednesday.
The survey also showed a significant rise in the number of people expecting improvement in their financial situation. In December, 28% of respondents said things will get better for them, compared to 19.1% observed in June. Lithuania is also the only Baltic country where more people expect their financial situation to improve than to worsen.
Lithuanians’ optimism is driven by the fact that their economy is currently the strongest one in several sectors at once, according to Izgorodinas.
"We have very impressive industrial growth and, strangely enough, when German industry is falling, our industrial production is rising. (...) We also have goods results in the retail sector," the economist explained.
Norstat conducted the representative survey of the Baltic population for Citadele Bank in November 2024. At least 1,000 people aged between 18 and 74 were polled in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia each online.