Average salary in Kosovo, governments left at”bals” the private sector

According to the Statistics Agency in Kosovo (ASK), it turns out that the average gross salary in the private sector was 380 euros in 2020, until by 2019 it was 411 euros. So there was a drop of 31 euros. And the average net salary for 2020 was 342 euros, compared to 2019, which was 372 euros. So a drop of 30 euros.

Meanwhile, the average gross public sector salary in 2019, according to the AKS, was 584 euros, until in 2020 it was 624 euros, marking an increase of 44 euros. The average net salary of 519 euros, while in 2019, amounted to 552 euros in 2020. A 33 euro increase.

According to the AKS, in the public sector, gross wage and net growth, compared to the previous years, has come due to the benefit of additions in specific sectors.

Businesses have found it impossible to keep the same salaries because of the closure and reduction of business activity, but also because of the lack of state support.

Kosovo's Afarism Oda board Chairman (OAK) Skender Krasniqi says they have repeatedly advised the government to react in support of private sector businesses, as it was impossible for the latter to maintain the same situation and number of workers and with similar salaries.

“Business has had it impossible to keep the same salaries, but neither the state nor government has supported workers to keep at work. While Kosovo's institutions, regardless of whether the public sector has worked or operated, which has almost 80 per cent of the time not worked at all, has continued to receive full salaries and have continued to receive a portion of the sector and additional benefits for work, which has increased the salary average, which should not happen. There should be an equal division of salaries both in the public sector and in the private sector so that citizens can be equal”, he says.

Even the chairman of the Economic Ode, Berat Rukiqi, says of Kosova Prees, that the private sector has suffered the consequences of pandemic over the past year.

He stresses that there has also been an impact on the public sector with a budget revenues instability, but that this has not affected either wages or jobs in the sector.

The private sector has suffered the consequences of pandemics throughout the past year until late this year, and this has normally influenced many companies to reduce wages or because of a more unstable circulation performance and generally other indicators to be more conservative in terms of increased workers' wages, and this is normally reflected in the average wage... This in the public sector never happens, despite the crises, we see it as the ongoing sector and, well, nobody loses their jobs there. But it is worrying, however, that in the private sector there have been impacts, thankfully, there are no jobs that are permanently closed”, he says, as he says optimisticly that the loss of jobs is only recovery.

The average salary in Kosovo dropped in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the private sector hard as a result of the closure and reduction of business activity, and where the majority of employees are compared to the total number of employees in the country. As the public sector sees a more pronounced rise in the average salary compared to the previous years.