Skopje, 3 February 2026 (MIA) – Minister of Economy and Labor Besar Durmishi reiterated Tuesday that the government will endorse any proposal that would be accepted by both the trade unions and the employees involving minimum wage. According to him, all salaries, including minimum wage, should raise but it has to be gradually amid a stable economic framework.

A meeting with trade union is due to Thursday, he said, and the Economic and Social Council will also hold a session in the coming days, which most probably will be attended by representatives of trade union and employers.

“If the proposal is accepted by all factors, meaning all Council members, the government and the Ministry will endorse it. We’ve said it before – if trade unions and employers come to an agreement, we stand ready to support both sides. We see the whole picture, which includes public sector employees as well as private sector employees. We’ve also said before that all salaries in the public sector, including minimum wage, should increase but gradually amid a stable economic framework,” Durmishi said speaking to members of the media.

The Minister also reiterated the government has already increase public sector wages.

“During the first years in office, we raised salaries in healthcare, education, law enforcement, pensions… We have an agreement with public sector employees through a three-party dialogue and almost 85 percent have been solved. 7,700 workers remain and we have agreed to sit down and talk,” Durmishi said.

He said that there is no decision to increase the salaries of public officials.

We will see what the situation is after the data from the State Statistical Office is released later this month and we will act accordingly. Last year we made a decision to limit the salaries of officials, that is, we planned to increase them like the salaries of all other employees in the public and private sectors. We stand by the position that we will not make a decision to increase the salaries of officials. The minimum wage will be levelled or increased in March by 7 or 8 percent, which means that in 2028 we will have an increase of about 40 percent,” Minister Durmishi said noting that a decision will be made according to this month’s statistical data.

Photo: MIA