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The minimum wage, which should be paid to workers who perform the simplest jobs, and mainly in the period when the company is doing poorly, is very often abused in Serbia. Today, for the minimum of the current 30,000 dinars, it is usually done in companies that function quite well, and according to estimates of the union organizations, about 350,000 workers, that is, about 15 percent of all employees in the country, receive the minimum. Of that number, just under 30,000 employees in the public sector also work for the minimum wage, and there are those who work in Serbia for less than the minimum. Zoran Ristic, economic advisor to UGS “Nezavisnost”, confirms that the total number of those who receive the minimum wage is underestimated, as well as that the minimum wage is becoming the rule, not the exception.
– The fact that a growing number of employers resort to the minimum wage is contrary to the Labor Law, which prescribes the minimum as a form of security for employees when the company barely survives. Unfortunately, Serbia promotes itself as a country of cheap and quality labor, which is why a lot of investors came, because it was worth it for them to make a profit at the expense of that cheap labor. This certainly affects budget revenue. Previously, there may have been a justification for such an image of Serbia, when it was better for the country to receive income on the basis of taxes paid and contributions to the minimum wage than to pour nothing into its state coffers. Now is the time to give up that image of Serbia as a country with cheap labor – believes Ristic, recalling that for 176 hours of work in a month, the gross minimum is 47,819 dinars and the net 30,367 dinars, which is the price. of 172.5 dinars per hour. job. That difference of about 17,000 dinars actually represents a cost to employers per worker, which means that each month about 6 billion dinars are poured into the state coffers for the payment of taxes and contributions of a minimum of about 350,000 workers . If the minimum wage were higher, Ristic adds, which it certainly should be, and what unions are constantly fighting for, it stands to reason that more money would go into the budget, which would be of greater benefit to the state itself.
Ranka Savić, president of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions, also believes that the minimum minimum hurts the budget, because less money is paid to the state treasury on the basis of taxes and contributions.
– Apart from the state, there are also damages to employees, who cannot cover even the basic living expenses of the minimum. Although we all know that the employer must pay the minimum only if he has business problems, and only for a limited period of time, that is not yet the practice in Serbia. Nobody complains that it is so. The state does not react, as do workers, not even inspections, and the number of those who are at a minimum is increasing dramatically. This is due to the crisis caused by the corona virus, which is why the scope of activities where the minimum wage is now paid has been expanded, that is, tourism, catering, self-employment … That is why we can already say that around half a million people live on 30,000 dinars a month – Ranka Savić points out.
The minimum are mostly employees in education and health who work in hygiene maintenance, as well as workers in some boutiques, cafes, shops, in low-productivity industries such as the textile industry, but also those in micro-enterprises that do not pay more that minimum not because they won’t, but because they won’t.
– The minimum wage is present in all activities, and even in highly profitable sectors such as information technology, where employers pay taxes and contributions as a minimum, and the remaining part that must be delivered to the state is shared with the employee. It is a violation of the law, but I have not had the opportunity to hear that any employee has sued the employer for such a situation – recalls Ristic.
The problem is that the labor market is such that people are forced to accept any job in order to have some kind of existence. When they have to choose between a job for which they will receive a minimum wage or suing the employer, very few will decide on the latter, Ristic adds. The amount of the minimum wage for next year will be known to the public in mid-September. However, although the Socio-Economic Council negotiations are underway, it is already known that the amount of the minimum will be less than the minimum consumption basket, which amounts to about 37,500 dinars, which is the main axis of the union struggle.
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