The increase in salaries in the public sector and pensions in December has been announced for some time, with the plan that the average salary in this month will be above 900 euros. How does this increase realistically affect the standard of living of citizens
Minister of Finance of Serbia Sinish Mali he said recently that the budget for the next year is planned to increase plata in the public sector by eight percent, in education by 11 percent, while the minimum wage will be increased by 13,7 percent.
Pensions will increase by 10,9 percent, not from January next year, but from December this year, Mali said.
The Government of Serbia, he explained, proposed through legal changes that the increase in pensions every year starts on December 1, and not January 1.
Mali also said that the state currently has 600 billion dinars in its account, or about 5,5 billion euros, which makes it a liquid, stable country.
According to him, the average salary in Serbia in August was 825 euros, and in December it will be more than 900 euros.
December has just begun, so in the next month we will have the opportunity to see if these promises will come true, and if so, how significant it will be for the citizens, considering the high prices of basic foodstuffs and inflation.
Recovery of purchasing power
Economist Saša Đogović tells "Vreme" that the announced measures to increase pensions and salaries can significantly help in reviving the purchasing power of Serbian citizens.
"After the announced increase, consumers will definitely have more purchasing power. They will be able to buy a significantly larger amount of subsistence products. This year, there is a positive trend and purchasing power has increased compared to 2023", explains Đogović.
He adds that the increase in purchasing power is currently higher than the increase in the inflation rate, and that, if there is a change in inflationary trends, a reaction from the Agency for the Protection of Competition is necessary.
"The role of the agency is to determine whether there is cartelization of products in trade chains, especially when it comes to basic foodstuffs, such as oil. The task of the agency is to meet the elimination of market anomalies and to reduce tensions in the household budget of citizens", he says.
Salary growth was announced in the public sector, and as Đogović says, it is also expected in the private sector.
"In the private sector, salaries grow on the basis of profitability and productivity, that is, on the basis of market logic itself. However, I expect that there will be an increase in the private sector as well", concludes Đogović.
Serbian salaries, Swedish prices
The President of the United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga" Željko Veselinović believes that the situation is still not as the government presented it, and that the majority of workers in Serbia are barely making ends meet.
"Formally speaking, the minimum wage increase is here. However, it only affects people who work for the minimum wage, and who, relatively speaking, barely survive. I noticed that the prices of products in our country are similar to those in Sweden, where the average salary is around 3.000 euros", notes Veselinović.
When the Minister of Finance talks about increasing salaries and pensions, says Veselinović, he takes into account only one side. Inflation rates and product prices are high, and products such as basic foodstuffs, clothing, school supplies and the like seem to be becoming unaffordable for the average household.
"The increases are not realistic and sufficient to cover one household, because the amounts of the increases were determined several months ago, and the products have become significantly more expensive even in the last month or two," says Veselinović.
Because of this, workers with lower wages work two jobs, living in a semi-social state.
"In Serbia, more than half a million people work for the amount of the minimum wage or slightly above it. The minimum wage is something that should be an exception, and a quarter of our citizens earn that much," he claims.
He adds that, according to research by the Center for Political Emancipation, a family of three needs about 144.000 dinars per month to live, and most households do not earn that much.
"In situations where two people work for the minimum wage and have more than one child, it is almost impossible to cover basic expenses, such as bills," says Veselinović and concludes that one should not be overly optimistic about the announced increases.
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