Skopje, 26 March 2026 (MIA) — Teachers, medical workers and civil servants will see their March paychecks rise as part of the collective agreements signed with the current government, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Thursday.

Responding to questions in Parliament, Mickoski confirmed that higher salaries would be paid to public employees in April. He also announced that the government had recently approved a draft agreement for administrative staff that would result in a 40% total pay increase over the next two years.

The new deal, signed with the UPOZ Trade Union of Administration, Judiciary and Citizens' Associations and the SADU Trade Union of Public and State Administration of Macedonia, aims to adjust salaries based on a new calculation that includes linear leveling and an 8% increase.

Similar 8% increases are scheduled for April 2027 and April 2028, Mickoski said. He added that the agreement also included judiciary and prosecution staff, covering approximately 10,000 employees.

"This agreement is the first of its kind that any government has ever signed with these employees," Mickoski said. 

"We are regulating 99% of our relations with our coworkers, where the state is the employer. This is something no one has ever done before," he said.

Mickoski said the government prioritized teacher raises from the start of its mandate. The current agreement runs through 2028, he said, "because we didn't want to take on obligations that extend past this government's term in conditions where we would have regular elections."

The new deal's final details are being, according to the PM, "ironed out" over the next few days, with the formal signing expected to happen early next week. mr/