State Proposes Minimum Wage of RSD 47,000, Non-Taxable Part for Employers RSD 25,000

At the meeting on the occasion of the negotiations about the minimum wage for 2024, the representatives of the Ministry of Finance proposed for the minimum wage to increase 17.8%, which amounts to slightly over RSD 47,000.

A facility in the form of a higher non-taxable salary part of RSD 25,000 was offered to the employers, and the non-taxable part is currently RSD 21,300.

The trade unions did not accept this proposition, because they believe that the increase should be much higher, that is, that it should be equalized with the minimal consumer basket.

On the other hand, at the Serbian Association of Employers, they say for Biznis.rs that they will have to deliberate on this proposition and that their management will have to agree whether to accept it or request a higher non-taxable salary part.

– We believe that this proposition is too much in favor of the trade unions. Because, practically, according to the projection for next year, the inflation will drop to 4.9%, whereas the growth of the GDP will be 3.5%, so according to those indicators, the minimum wage should grow around 8.4%. In this case, the trade unions got an increase of 17.8%, which means that the increase is considerably in their favor – points out the honorary president of the Serbian Association of Employers, Nebojsa Atanackovic.

The day before said negotiations, the minister of finance, Sinisa Mali, said that, according to the law, the minimum wage could not be harmonized with the minimal consumer basket and that it should be set based on other parameters.

The secretary of the Council of the Confederation of the Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS), Zoran Mihajlovic, responded to that by saying that the equalization of those two numbers was not a legal obligation, but that, at the Social-Economic Council, it had been agreed back in 2018 for the value of the minimal consumer basket to be equalized with the value of the minimum wage for 2021.

As he said, that was also the conclusion of the Social-Economic Council at the meeting which was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, and Mali said himself in 2021 that those values would equalize at the end of 2023.

The representative of the trade union UGS Nezavisnost who is taking part in the negotiations about the increase of the minimum wage for 2024, Zoran Ristic, has confirmed that it is true that the conclusion of the Social-Economic Council from 2018 has not been included in any law, but that the agreement of the social partners was for the minimal consumer basked and the minimum wage to be equalized in 2021.

This year, the minimum wage is RSD 40,020, and the value of the minimal consumer basket in May, the most recent available data, was around RSD 52,000.

The Serbian Association of Employers and the trade unions will present their final propositions at the next week’s meeting, that is, they will decide whether to accept the government’s proposition for the minimum wage to be RSD 47,000 next year.

Unija poslodavaca Srbije Beograd

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Savez samostalnih sindikata Srbije

UGS Nezavisnost Beograd

Zoran Mihajlović

Nebojša Atanacković

Siniša Mali

Zoran Ristić

minimum wage increase

minimum wage

non taxable salary part