4 minutes agoHundreds of euros off pay for dignified “”
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)Bekim Muji from Gjilan earns 250 euros a month working at a private insurance company in Pristina. This says that it is not enough even to cover basic household expenses and is often forced into debt. I'm second with my wife, but it's a problem. That money's not enough. I borrow, I pay back [...]
Bekim Muji from Gjilan earns 250 euros a month working at a private insurance company in Pristina.
This says that it is not enough even to cover basic household expenses and is often forced into debt.
I'm second with my wife, but it's a problem. That money's not enough. I borrow, I pay back, what you do... Life is always”, he says of Radio Free Europe.
Many Kosovo citizens are forced to survive even less, while consumer prices, such as elsewhere in the world, have increased.
The minimum wage in the country continues to be 130 euros for workers under 35 and 170 euros for those up to 65, while the average is around 520 euros.
Osman Mustafa, a construction worker from Podujevo, says a dignified life for a 4-member family in Kosovo requires at least 1,000 euros a month.
We at the construction site have no salary under 500 euros. It's better than anywhere else, but it's not good enough for” either, he says.
Government Proposes Growth Minimum wage to 264 euros. The law has not yet entered into force, but that too is far from what is needed for a dignified life, studies say.
A Musine Koklari Institute study in Pristina shows that only 20% of Kosovo's salaries meet the standards for a dignified life of 1,152 euros a month, needed by a four-member family.
Radio Free Europe requested by Government to comment on these findings and asked whether there is any plan to narrow the gap between the minimum wage and the estimated wage for dignified life, but received no answers.
“Every fifth worker paid for dignified living”
Research by the Institute for Social Policy Musine Koklari in Pristina, published late, shows that a 4-member family, for a dignified life, needs an average of 1,295 euros gross or 1,52 euros per month. While, an average single adult needs 816 euros gross, or 720 euros, net.
The finding of this report is that only one in five salaries in Kosovo can be considered a living salary. So only about 20 percent of Kosovo's total estimated wages achieve this amount, while about 80 percent do not reach”, says Free Europe Radio Marigone Drovinje, director of research programme at the Musine Koklari Institute.
The cost of living wages, she relates, has been analyzed by family economies, such as the cost of food and drink, clothing, housing, health, transportation, communication, cultural recreation, restaurants and hotels, and other goods and services.
The main source of data used in the study is the 2022 Family Economics Budget Survey, which was carried out by the Kosovo Statistics Agency.
The findings of the study echoed the same way did Medi Bektash, professor of economics at Pristina University.
The vital wage for a 4-member family, estimated at 1,150 euros (neto), is real and rarely anyone can spend the month under this definite sum... because, in recent years, we have price hikes, inflation, which has been brought into double numbers”, he says of Radio Free Europe.
According to data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, the average inflation rate in 2022 was almost 12 percent, while by 2023 it was nearly 5 percent.
But according to the AKS, in May of this year, consumer prices marked a 2.4 per cent increase compared to May of last year.
Unionists: The minimum wage has not been negotiated at all
The Kosovo Government's decision on the minimum wage is made on the basis of the Social Economic Council's recommendation.
The law on this council stipulates that it should include representatives of the Government of Kosovo, the organisations of employers and employees' organisations.
At and Hykoli, chairman of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo, says the minimum wage rate, which has been decided by the Kosovo government, has not been negotiated at all with unionists.
Speaking to Radio Free Europe, he says that since March last year, the Social Economic Council has never met.
“We, like BSPK, are constantly pressuring the Government of Kosovo to meet the Social Economic Council and negotiate the minimum wage, which should always be recommended for approval at the end of the year. It is by law that at any end of the year, the minimum wage is negotiated”, says Hykoli.
The Kosovo government did not respond to REL's interest in either the social Economic Council's work.
Independent Private Sector Union Chairman Yusuf Azemi says 264 euros are no longer worth, because Work forceAccording to him, he's changed.
He says that even last year's unionist proposal -- that the minimum wage be 450 euros -- already does not stand.
“has been the minimum we've proposed for the past year, while for this year we dare not even think about a salary under 550 euros, minimally”, Azemi says of Radio Free Europe.
According to him, the workforce in Kosovo is declining, due to the migration of Kosovo citizens to Western countries, following visa liberalisation from January 1st this year.
Although there is no official record of how many Kosovo citizens have migrated abroad, the lack of labour force is one of the reasons that the minimum wage in some companies has increased, says Lulzim Rafuna, chairman of the Kosovo Economic Age, which represents the business community.
First “, lack of labor force. It means, there's reduced offers and there's a demand for more workers. The second is the question that companies need to increase service quality or quality of product”, Rafuna says.
According to him, minimum salaries in the private sector, in most cases, are more than 400 euros. But, he says even this value does not mean wages for dignified living, due to high prices of daily consumption and inflation.
How to Reduce the Gap
Bektash says reducing the gap between Kosovo's minimum wage and the wage for dignified living of workers is not easy.
But, it says the Government of Kosovo must act on time, accounting for each year the inflation rate.
“in the economic aspect, this difference can only be drawn if we have salary hikes on the inflation rate in the preceding year”, he says.
The value of minimum wage in Kosovo has not changed since 2011 and it is the lowest in Europe.
Bektash says wage growth depends, too, on the country's economic development.
The World Bank has projected this year economic growth in Kosovo for 3.9 percent, compared to 3.2 percent in 2023. /Radio Europe Free
