[ad_1]
Salary grades, that is, the same salary for the same job in the public sector, are back on the agenda. So far, the introduction of a new way of evaluating the work that is paid from the state budget has been carried out several times. Now, the new Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, has stated that in the first half of next year, salary qualifications will be one of the most important issues, and optimistic estimates are, according to him, that they could be introduced from January 2022.
Earlier, the Serbian Government announced and postponed the introduction of salary grades several times. First, they were supposed to start the app on January 1, then July 2020, and the last time the deadline was moved to early 2021. It looks like that date will probably be broken too.
And the essence of the introduction of salary grades is that employees in the general state receive the same salary for the same work, which means that a driver in one ministry must have the same salary as a driver in another ministry, government or agency. Salary grade also means that employees’ salaries increase based on the quality of their work; in translation, how and how much work is the same as salary.
“For those who currently have undervalued amounts, salaries will increase in proportion to the funds available, while for those in the overvalued group, salaries will not increase until their salary group reaches them. It is important to see which salaries are low and which excessively high and determine the target relationships within the public sector based on justified criteria and in relation to the complexity of the work, responsibility and risks ”, explains the source of“ Blic Biznis ”from Nemanjina 11.
Branko Ruzic, former Minister of State Administration and Local Autonomy, explained at the end of last year that it is necessary to analyze the fiscal impact of including all public sector employees in the new salary system, that is, to prevent the participation of employees from growing. salaries of public administrations in gross domestic product. and not disturb the financial sustainability of the budget.
All this conditioned the need to allow an adequate period from the approval of the law to its implementation, which would allow the reform of the wage system to achieve a financially sustainable effect as of January 1, 2021, Ruzic said at the end of 2019. explaining the reforms to the Law on the Remuneration of Public Sector Employees, the reforms to the Law on the Remuneration of State Officials and Employees in the Bodies of the Autonomous Province and Local Autonomy Units and the reforms to the Law of Public Services Employees.
The Minister explained that salary grade means that employees’ salaries are increased based on the quality of their work, even if the basis on which the salary is calculated is not increased. According to him, the entire public sector will be covered by salary grades, with more than 400,000 employees.
Tax advice: get a wide enough income range
The Fiscal Council has repeatedly noted that the introduction of salary grades has been postponed several times since 2013. According to its assessment, if the Serbian Government wants to keep the best people in the public sector, it is necessary to make a sufficiently wide range of salaries .
The document “Wage Levels and Employment in the Serbian Public Sector: From Incomplete Reform to a Sustainable System” states that all state sectors should be included in the salary grade system, which is not currently the case. Approximately one fifth of employees, that is, the police, military and official sectors, are outside the pay system, which is not the case in other European countries that have regulated the public sector pay system.
A key part of the reform of the wage system, according to the Fiscal Council, is to prescribe the wage base at a level close to the minimum wage. They calculate that only in this way will sufficiently good salary ranges be obtained, within which the most professional and responsible jobs in the country can be adequately paid.
The Fiscal Council does not dispute that wage and employment reform is a major professional and political challenge, but draws attention to the fact that most European countries have been able to respond successfully to that challenge.
[ad_2]
