Skopje, 3 February 2025 (MIA) - Employers, unions and the Government are to sit down for talks on Monday to discuss increasing the minimum wage, which currently stands at Mden 22,567. According to announcements, the Economic and Social Council (ESC) is holding a session today to look into possibilities over minimum wage raise, following demands by the unions who believe there is a real need for that.

Unions demand that the minimum wage be increased to EUR 450, while part of the business sector said it will accept such proposal but with lower contributions. The Government has reaffirmed its stance that unions and employers should agree over the minimum wage.

"Unions and employers will talk about the minimum wage. We will monitor the process and accept their agreement, because our analyses have shown that about 14,000 civil servants get the minimum wage in state institutions, whereas all others are not affected by the minimum wage component," Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska Kochoska said Friday.   

At a Q&A session of Parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said the Government will accept any proposal for a minimum wage that employers and employees agree on. 

“The minimum wage will be set to whatever the employers and employees agree on. We are a party that can facilitate this process, observe it and support it once there is a solution. We will accept any solution they support. On Monday, there is an item on the agenda referring to the minimum wage and I hope employers and employees come to an agreement which we will support,” Mickoski said.

In line with the law, the minimum wage should be aligned this March and increase by about Mden 1,800 (EUR 30), which according to the unions is low compared to the cost of living. 

According to the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM), an average family of four in North Macedonia needed Mden 63,252 to cover minimal living expenses in January 2025, which means that two minimum wages are not enough to meet basic needs. The value of the minimal consumer basket rose by Mden 6.089 (EUR 98.96) in one year, which is an increase of 10.63 percent.

“It’s not that we, the citizens of Macedonia, live very good lives and have very good wages which we spend and raise the inflation. It’s not the wages that are to blame for the rising rate of inflation, instead the retailers are greedy and get rich on the back of the workers using every opportunity to get richer. We even suspect that their current promises to keep the prices of basic food products unchanged in the coming months is a trick to avoid lowering the prices of products which are dropping on the global markets,” SSM head Slobodan Trendafilov told a press conference on January 21.   

According to SSM, wages should be increased by at least 20 percent. The federation of unions said their demand for higher wages and a higher minimum wage is “more than justified”, and they also stressed the need for additional measures by the Government.

PM Mickoski said the real prices of the products from the consumer basket will be presented at today's session, because according to him, the calculation of the basket is being manipulated. 

The Economic Chamber of North-West Macedonia (ECNWM) brought forward a proposal for a minimum wage at EUR 500 with contributions reduced from 47.7 to 32 percent. 

The Finance Minister said nothing should be changed in the part of contributions, since they are among the lowest in the region.

"Contributions to the state must be paid. There have been various proposals on many occasions, but the contributions are among the lowest compared to the neighbouring countries. Therefore, I believe nothing should change in this part," noted Dimitrieska Kochoska.

Photo: MIA archive