The introduction of pay grades in the public sector has been announced for 2021, which means that the minimum monthly salary should be taken as the basis, which is multiplied by the coefficients for each job. If the health crisis again does not delay the adjustment of salaries in the public sector, pay grades will cover more than 450,000 employees in institutions, state bodies, public agencies, schools and hospitals. This practically means that for the same type of work, a worker, for example a driver, would be paid the same regardless of whether he works in a ministry, municipality, school or a state agency.
Earnings in the public sector are on average about 20 percent higher than in the private sector, and 10 percent are higher in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. The average salary in public companies in the first quarter of this year was 600 euros, in the public sector 550 euros, in the general government sector 540 euros. The salaries of teachers with the fifth degree of professional preparation in the whole of Serbia amount to 380 euros, while the salaries of teachers with a university degree are 450 euros.
While the salaries of employees in municipalities vary considerably, and the more developed the municipality, the higher the salaries. According to job informants, which can be found on the websites of several local governments, although publishing these data is everyone’s obligation, the mayor of New Belgrade has a salary of 1000 euros, an associate with a university degree 400 euros, and a senior clerk 300 euros. The mayor of Subotica earns 920 euros, an expert associate 420 euros, and a clerk 270 euros. While in Knjaževac, the mayor has a salary of 800 euros, and a senior associate 330 euros. In Trstenik, the president of the municipality earns 750 euros, the senior clerk 260 euros, and the associate 310 euros.
In Cuprija, Vranje, Paracin, Topola, Novi Pazar, a municipal clerk with a high school receives a minimum of about 300 to 350 euros, depending on the length of service. While an employee with a university degree earns between 460 euros and 500 euros.
How salaries in the public sector are determined, what is included in the base and is it adjusted to the cost of living?
– Until April 2012, the salaries of employees of users of budget funds and users of funds of obligatory social insurance were harmonized with, among other things, the growth rate of consumer prices. While from October 2012 to April 2014, salaries were increased by a fixed percentage, in October 2012 and April 2013 by two percent, and in October 2013 and April 2014 by 0.5 percent. After that, a special fiscal rule was introduced, which requires the reduction of wage expenditures to a sustainable level, so that the share of general government salaries in GDP is up to seven percent of GDP, and that wages can be increased in the year in which based on the appropriate planning documents of the competent authorities, it is expected, ie estimated that the share of general government salaries in GDP will be up to seven percent, at most twice a year – they explain in the Ministry of Finance.
However, given that in the previous period the fiscal consolidation measures gave better results than expected, from 2016 to 2020 the salaries of employees increased in accordance with the balance sheet possibilities of the budgets of all levels of government, ie with the available fiscal space, in fixed percentages, by sector.
– Individual bases for calculation and payment of salaries are determined by the Law on the Budget of the Republic of Serbia. Also, we point out that the bases for the calculation and payment of salaries of employees in public companies are determined by the collective agreement, ie the general act of the employer – they emphasize in the Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government says that the relations between the salaries of employees in the public sector are regulated through coefficients prescribed by law and bylaws. The coefficients represent the values of jobs performed in the same title, so that jobs of the same complexity would be valued the same. The jobs performed by civil servants at the national level are different from the jobs performed at the local level, so it is not possible to compare salaries at the state and local levels.
– Therefore, each local self-government has the authority, in accordance with the specific jobs it has and the jobs that employees perform, to determine the legally limited amount of additional coefficients (for work on inspection activities of direct supervision, budget preparation and execution, responsibility for management, etc.), as well as additional increases in the coefficient for titles, limited by law, depending on the mass of funds for salaries at his disposal. Having in mind that type of autonomy of local self-governments, salaries in various units of local self-government do not necessarily have to be the same – they say in the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Politika reports.
