An increase in the minimum wage in Croatia.
Croatian Minister of Labour and Pension System Mirando Mrsić said that the current government has increased the minimum wage in Croatia by some 300 kuna in the past four years and that with the latest increase, adopted on 30 December, the ratio of minimum wage in comparison with the average salary is about 38 percent, reports Vecernji List on December 31, 2015.
Mrsić gave his statement following the decision of the outgoing government to increase the minimum wage to 3,120 kuna in 2016. He said that it was a legal requirement because the current regulations would expire on the last day of the year. "If we had not adopted the decree today, there would be a legal void which would preclude some necessary calculations to be done", Mrsić said. Minimum wage has been increased by 90.45 kuna in comparison with last year.
Mrsić said that some of social partners had the opposite opinion although the government wanted for trade unions and employers to together with the government define the minimum wage. The unions demanded a somewhat bigger increase, while employers felt that there is no need to increase the minimum wage.
According to Mrsić, when the outgoing government took office in late 2011, there were more than 70,000 employees who were receiving minimum wage, while the latest figures show that currently there are some 20,000 workers on minimum wage. He added that the goal of the government was for the minimum wage to exceed 40 percent of the average salary.
The current government has increased the minimum wage by three percent for two reasons. One is a tax rate decrease which has not included those on minimum wage because their wages are non-taxable. On the other hand, it is estimated that next year Croatian economy will continue to grow.
Speaking about the incoming government, he said that he hoped that it would work to the benefit of citizens. He believes that the new government must reduce the number of workers receiving the minimum wage and increase the minimum wage closer to the amount of the current average salary, as HDZ and MOST promised during the campaign. "I hope that projected increases in the minimum wage in the years to come will be implemented, because it represents one of the most effective ways to protect workers against poverty", Mrsić said and concluded that Croatia's economic growth cannot be based on cheap labour.
