By far, the highest salaries in Lithuania are received by specialists in the information technology (IT) sector. However, this does not mean that representatives of other professions cannot earn similar or even higher salaries. For example, farmers are actively looking for tractor operators and mechanizers even during the winter, and often the offered remuneration reaches 3 thousand euros or even more.
Economists predict that Lithuanian wages will grow faster than previously expected this year, by almost a tenth per year. However, inflation, which is forecast to reach 3 percent, will dampen the mood of the population.
And last year, according to data from the job posting portal CV Online, the highest salary growth (in percentage terms) in 2024 was in the agricultural and food industry sectors.
Farmers make no secret of the fact that they are constantly looking for workers who can drive a tractor or combine. So, how much can tractor operators and mechanizers currently earn?
Farmers face a big problem
The chairman of the Lithuanian Farmers' Union, Raimundas Juknevičius, told the news portal tv3.lt that for several years, some farmers have been facing the same problem - they cannot find experienced and knowledgeable tractor operators and mechanizers.
"Although there are people who have licenses and can drive machinery, those licenses are easily obtained without providing in-depth knowledge about the machinery. And as for those who could work with expensive combines, the market needs such workers a lot, there is a shortage of these mechanizers. In other words, we are faced with the problem of not finding workers who have basic knowledge and know how to operate specific machinery," the interviewee said.
According to R. Juknevičius, while previously tractor operators and mechanizers were trained for several years, now such education is no longer available.
"And it happens that if the farmer himself is a good mechanizer, he has no choice but to pass on his knowledge to the hired person. However, if the farmer himself lacks knowledge, it becomes very difficult to hire mechanizers who know the job."
Of course, there is another option - to try to make an agreement with the mechanists already working at other farmers so that they would come to work for you. However, such experience clearly shows that those who tend to change jobs have too little responsibility. In other words, having worked hard for one, they tend to rush to another. So this is also not the best solution," said the farmers' representative.
Don't be afraid to pay 4 thousand euros or more
R. Juknevičius says that the remuneration offered to tractor operators depends on the employee's experience.
"If a farmer is looking for a mechanizer who can drive equipment costing millions of euros, he will certainly want to be guaranteed that a professional, knowledgeable specialist will be behind the wheel. Therefore, he will be paid a higher remuneration," the interviewee said.
However, R. Juknevičius points out that due to the shortage of tractor operators, farmers are often willing to pay a salary significantly higher than the market price for a specialist who knows the job.
"If it happens that your hired mechanizer, whom you expected to have during the season, for example, gets sick, and the harvest season begins at that time, then you weigh what is more important to you: harvesting the crop or paying the employee dearly."
That's when we see those miraculous prices, because farmers tend to pay practically any price that the mechanizer asks. I've heard that some farmers don't mind paying even 4 thousand euros "in cash," the interviewee said.
And, if tractor operators and mechanizers are sought during the winter period, the salaries offered to employees, according to R. Juknevičius, are more modest, because there is still time to search.
Here, on the job posting portal "CV bankas", you can find a total of 14 job offers for tractor operators and mechanizers.
Salaries for representatives of this profession range from 1 thousand euros to 3 thousand euros "in hand".
Candidates are required to have tractor driver's licenses - TR2, SZ, SM categories.
And some employers even request that mechanizers not only have experience in agriculture, but also know how to sow, spray, fertilize fields, harrow, and, if necessary, repair machinery.
Whose salaries increased the most?
Last year, salaries in Lithuania grew in various ways. For some, their salaries increased by just 1 percent, for others by as much as a third (33 percent), and the average increase was 7 percent, as previously announced in a press release.
These data were obtained during a study by Manoalga.lt, when 11 thousand employees provided data on their positions, earnings, and additional benefits. Specialists calculated which professions, genders, ages, or regions saw the most and least growth in earnings.
The highest salary growth in 2024 was in the following job categories (from highest to lowest):
- agriculture, food industry – 33 percent;
- service sector – 28 percent (#6 on the list of lowest-paying positions);
- medicine and social care – 28 percent (#9 on the list of highest-paying positions);
- journalism, publishing and media – 20 percent;
- marketing, advertising, public relations – 18 percent;
- public administration – 17 percent;
- construction and real estate – 16 percent;
- woodworking industry – 16 percent (#5 on the list of lowest-paying positions);
- education, science and research – 16 percent;
- insurance – 16 percent (#9 on the list of lowest-paying positions).
Among the highest salary increases, 3 job fields are in the top ten lowest-earning job fields, namely insurance, the service sector, and the woodworking industry.
Also, the biggest increase in remuneration was in medicine, which is in the top ten highest-earning fields.
The different wage growth was influenced by the increase in the minimum monthly wage (MMA) from January 2024, 1: in 2023 - 840 euros, in 2024 - 924 euros.
There were also increases in the minimum wage coefficients for employees of budgetary institutions, changes in the calculation of the tax-free income (NPD), differences in demand and supply, shortages of employees, etc.
For some, salaries have risen by a little more than 400 euros. For example, in agriculture - from 1287 to 1717 euros, which is as much as 430 euros.
What job offers were the most in 2024?
According to Rita Karavaitienė, Marketing Manager at CV-Online, in 2024 the portal received the most job offers for specialists in the following fields: production; service sector; management; sales; IT; finance; administration; engineering; transport; banking; insurance; trade.
However, R. Karavaitienė notes that candidates demonstrated greater activity in other areas, such as marketing, communication, culture, human resources, etc.
"Among other important reasons, the significant gap between demand and supply and the shortage of high-value-added employees put considerable pressure on employers to review salaries."
"In order to attract and retain employees, employers raised salaries even for the highest-earning professionals," a representative of CV-Online shared her observations.
Highest salaries by position held
Salaries of top-level managers (positions with the highest salaries: chief executive officers, IT department heads, executive directors) increased by an average of 5 percent per year.
IT (highest salaries: IT architects, senior programmers, DevOps engineers, IT product managers, iOS developers) salaries grew by 8% over the year.
In the management area (risk assessment managers, legal department managers, finance managers), salaries grew by 12 percent.
In the legal field (judges, attorneys, lawyers), earnings increased by 8%.
In the telecommunications sector (information and communications technology specialists, telecommunications specialists), salaries increased by 4 percent.
Salaries in the fields of economics, finance, and accounting (controllers, financial market specialists, auditors) increased by 14 percent.
In the pharmaceutical sector (pharmaceutical product managers, pharmacists), wages increased by 13 percent.
In the banking sector (product managers-specialists, internal auditors, financial analysts), salaries grew by 6%.
Salaries in the medical field (doctors, medical/pharmaceutical sales representatives, dentists) increased by 28%.
Salaries of sales employees (senior sales representatives, business analysts, sales project managers) grew by 12 percent.
Who received the lowest salaries in 2024:
- unskilled labor force – salaries increased by an average of 8% per year;
- tourism, public catering, hotels - 14 percent
- textile, leather goods, clothing industry – 10 percent;
- safety and security – 6 percent;
- woodworking industry – 16 percent;
- services sector – 28 percent;
- customer service – 8 percent;
- art and culture – 5 percent;
- insurance – 16 percent;
- administration – 5 percent.
When it comes to salaries in the regions, the average salary growth in the Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda regions is almost the same – 9–10%.
However, the difference between salaries in Vilnius and Kaunas was 17 percent, and between Vilnius and Klaipėda – 27 percent.
The largest salary difference compared to Vilnius is in Tauragė – 53 percent. The largest percentage salary growth in 2024 was in Utena County – 24 percent.
Author: Lukas Dulskas, TV3.lt
