Feb 20 (Reuters) - Polish industrial output increased less than expected in January, data released on Tuesday showed, while wages continued to rise at a double-digit pace underpinning an expected revival in household spending.

After inflation pounded consumer activity last year, central Europe's economies are counting on renewed spending to propel growth now that price rises are moderating. However, industry is struggling due to weak demand from abroad.

In January, Poland's industrial production rose by 1.6% year-on-year, below analysts' expectations of a 3.1% rise. Last year, output contracted in 10 of 12 months, including November and December.

"It's clear that production is coming out of the trough, although the recovery is so far quite meagre, which was also consistent with the GDP growth dynamic in the fourth quarter," mBank economist Arkadiusz Balcerowski said.

Poland's economy grew 1.0% in the fourth quarter year-on-year, broadly as expected, but stagnated in quarterly terms.

In other data released on Tuesday, corporate sector wages grew in January by 12.8%, beating analysts' expectations of an 11.0% rise.

"Certainly the rise in minimum wage played a big role here... We expected the growth momentum, which had dropped significantly in December, to rebound in January, but this rebound was much greater," Balcerowski said.

He added that a combination of employment and wage growth data for the economy was the strongest since the beginning of 2019.

"In our opinion this will be an incentive for consumption to grow significantly in the rest of the year."

In an interview with Business Insider published on Tuesday, Poland's Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski reconfirmed a 3% growth forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, and flagged that private consumption would play a vital role.

(Reporting by Karol Badohal in Warsaw; Editing by Sharon Singleton)