26 Feb 2010

Marshall Islands workers incomes fall

9:05 am on 26 February 2010

A government report says people working in the private sector in the Marshall Islands have seen a nearly 40 percent drop in their real income since 1997.

Salaries of government workers declined by 5.6 percent over the same

period.

Between 1997 and 2009, inflation rose by close to 35 percent.

Overall, the average wage in the Marshall Islands amounted to $8,285 in

1997 and rose to $9,618 in 2009.

But when this wage comparison factors in inflation based on 2000 prices, the "real" average wage of $8,764 in 1997 fell last year to just $7,281 - a drop of 17 percent