Prague - Czech Republic's average monthly real wage was up 2.8 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, the Czech Statistical Office said Monday.

At 22,531 koruny (1,398 dollars) the average nominal wage grew a staggering 10.4 per cent in the first three months of this year, the biggest jump since late 1998, but the increase was offset by rising prices, the statisticians said.

"The price of Czech labour is rising fast but the Czech employees do not see much from that," CSOB chief economist Tomas Sedlacek said.

Analysts say that rising wages may contribute to further inflation expectations and interest rate hikes in the Czech Republic, whose economy has seen a fast-paced growth in recent years fuelled by an influx of car and electronics makers.

Czechs earn higher wages than other post-communist central Europeans - Hungarians, Poles or Slovaks - but their wages still lag behind those in western Europe. (dpa)