New minimum wage to be announced on September 10

The proposition to increase minimum wage in Serbia is still being worked on and the decision will most likely be announced on September 10, 2018 after the Social-Economic Council session, the President of The Serbian Association of Employers Srdjan Drobnjakovic said yesterday.

– We are close to conciliating our opinions and each side needs to make some concessions, Drobnjakovic told Beta.

The members of Social-Economic Council - representatives of the Government of Serbia, trade unions and the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) are having negotiations about the minimum wage per working hour. If they don't reach an agreement the Government of Serbia acting on the Ministry of Finance's proposal will decide whether to increase the minimum wage.

Current minimum wage is at RSD 24,882 or RSD 143 per hour and minimum monthly wage is RSD 24,800. 350,000 workers in Serbia earn this wage, our of who 30,000 are public servants.

The president of the Nezavisnost Trade Union Confederation, Zoran Stojiljkovic said that in the previous meetings the Government offered a minimum wage raise of 8.5 %, the unions asked for 15% raise and SAE offered 5% raise, possibly more.

– We won't accept any number that is less than two-digits, Stojiljkovic said.

He added that nobody could live with the earnings that make less than the minimum consumer basket and that it was nearly impossible to increase the minimum earnings by 47% to be able to cover the costs of the minimum consumer basket.

Stojiljkovic pointed out that it was imporant to strive that minimum wage increase be bigger that in the “normal countries” where the minimum wage was adjusted in accordance with national GDP and inflation rate.

Social-Economic Council is in agreement that the minimum wage in the next three years should be in compliance with the minimum consumer basket which is currently at RSD 36,000, the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Zoran Djordjevic stated.

Socijalno-ekonomski savet Republike Srbije Beograd

Ministarstvo za rad, zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna pitanja Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

SEC

Zoran Dordjevic

Sinisa Mali

minimum wage

consumer basket in Serbia

adjusting minimum wage with minimum consumer basket

Serbian Association of Employers

Social-Economic Council

Nezavisnost Trade Union Confederation

Ministry of Finance

Srdjan Drobnjakovic

Zoran Stojiljkovic