After several months of tiresome trilateral negotiations between the representatives of the Government, employers and employees, a new minimum salary amount has been adopted in Serbia.
Replacing the previously valid amount of RSD 121.00 net per working hour (approx. EUR 0.99 net), the new minimum salary will amount to RSD 130.00 net per working hour (approx. EUR 1.04 net). This 7.5% growth will be in force as of January 1, 2017, until the end of the year.
As this is a highly sensitive topic for all the sides participating in the social dialogue regarding the minimum salary amount, it comes as no surprise that arrays of numerous conflicting interests are involved in the discussions. The Government, on the one side, has to take its budget and an overall economic situation into consideration, while, on the other side, the Unions of employees are looking forward to improve the social status of its members. Consequently, the Government and the Unions of employers were suggesting a lower increase, set around RSD 125.00, while the representatives of the employees were determined to set a new bar to at least RSD 135.00.
Taking into account the above mentioned positions, it is clear that the Social-Economic Council, which shall make the final decision, always has a difficult task of balancing and coming up with the fair solution which would satisfy all sides. This year, the compromise was reached with the RSD 130.00 minimum salary.
In addition, it is worth noting that during the recent years, only one change in the amount of the minimum salary has occurred since 2012. Namely, after being fixed at RSD 115.00 (approx. 1.10 net EUR) for 2012, it has been changed in September 2014, when it was set to be RSD 121.00 net (approx. EUR 1.02 net). Thus, this is only a second increase in almost half of a decade.
By Milan Samardzic, Partner, and Branislav Radovic, Associate, SOG / Samardzic, Oreski & Grbovic
