One of the major objective of each country is to ensure the economic development. The ability to set the efficient wage allows to economic development. The systematic researches of different scientists have shown that the wage must be harmoniously related to general trends of economic development. The essence of classical economics is that lower labour costs had a positive impact on the production cost and make the product more competitive. In nowadays economy a linear relationship occurs only partially. An open labour market, especially in welfare states, and in the long-term perspective low wage inadequate to standard of living often have a negative impact on economic development. Negative factors of economic development and wage non-compliance occurs within the worker goes from national to foreign labour market. The objective of this article is to analyze these trends in general terms with emphasis on the situation in Lithuania, where from 2008-2014 years disproportion between economic development and wage level were the highest among the European Union countries. In the article, also the possibilities of economic development for using the universal progress indicator and features of wage determination are discussed. At the end of the article are concluded, that during the analyzed period (until 2015 year) Lithuania was a country, where economic development has been stopped by the improper wage determination.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/cbme.2017.026