More and more workers in Serbia receive MINIMUM WAGE, is there a chance for INCREASE?

The number of employees who receive minimum wage in Serbia has increased due to current events and now there are 50,000 more of them than before – more precisely about 400,000 of them receive minimum wage.

This data was presented by trade unions, indicating that due to the inflation caused by the Ukrainian crisis, the minimum wage in Serbia is losing value.

That is why they are requesting new negotiations regarding the fact that the minimum wage should be adjusted twice a year, and not once.

They sent such a request to the Socio-Economic Council, and they are waiting to see if the authorities will decide.

The minimum wage cannot cover all the price increases

 As Zoran Mihajlovic of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia told BIZLife, the prices, especially food prices, have increased in the last two months and the minimum wage cannot cover all the necessary costs of the minimum consumer basket.

Previous trade union’s estimates have shown that about 300,000 to 350,000 workers in Serbia received the minimum wage, and now that number has risen to 400,000 because, as Mihajlovic says, many companies have been forced to send workers on leave due to business problems, which implies minimum wage.

There are no exact calculations of how many such companies there are, but according to the trade unions’ representatives, there are more and more of them.

 Mihajlovic states that the trade unions decided to ask for the minimum wage to be adjusted twice a year because the Labor Law stipulates that if there are emergency situations, such as the current one, and there is an increase in inflation, and thus a rise in prices – that can be requested.

The representatives of trade unions in Serbia pointed out even earlier that a large number of workers receive wages below the guaranteed amount, i.e. the minimum wage, i.e. that there are sectors and activities in which workers receive less than that amount.

What do employers say?

Employers see the solution in progressive payroll taxation.

Bosko Savkovic of the Union of Employers of Serbia says for BIZLife that the minimum wage should not be taxed because it should be a social category.

He states that taxes and contributions on significantly higher salaries, above the average in Serbia, should be higher, and thus progressive taxation of salaries should be introduced.

He points out that the minimum consumer basket does not meet all the needs of the population, and that the minimum wage has grown since 2016, but that it is also not enough for a decent life.

Izvor: BIZLife/Jelena Andrić

Foto: BIZLIfe, Pixabay