While the Albanian government has an ambitious plan to increase salaries in the next two years in the public administration, other Balkan countries over the last two years, but also this year, have created the conditions for a higher and more coherent increase in their .
The World Bank, in its regular 3-monthly economic report, noted that most countries in the Balkans applied wage increases in the public sector at the beginning of 2023.
Serbia, for example, increased salaries by 12.5% for civil servants at the beginning of 2023.
Montenegro increased the net salaries of public administration, education and health by almost 20%.
In Kosovo, a new law on salaries in the public sector was introduced, which aims to increase total salary expenses by 15%.
North Macedonia is working on a new Salary Law, following continuous requests from the Federation of Trade Unions.
Inflation increased the pressures for salary increases from 2022 in all countries of the Region.
In Montenegro, the average net monthly salary increased by 18.7% in real terms in 2022.
In Albania, in 2022, nominal wages increased by 10.8% through December 2022 (or 3.4% in real terms), reflecting increased demand for jobs in the private sector.
The average salary in Serbia increased by 13.8% in nominal terms and 1.7% in real terms. In 2022, growth was most pronounced in the private sector, where average net wages expanded by 17%, while public sector wages improved by 7.3%.
In 2922, salaries in North Macedonia increased by 11%. However, double-digit inflation drove real wages down. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, nominal wage growth was 14.2%, but in real terms, wages fell by 0.5% in December.
In the last three years, wages in the countries of the region have grown at a much faster rate than in Albania, widening the gap between the income received by an employee in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, compared to an Albanian.
The average gross salary for these countries fluctuates between 800-900 euros per month, from about 520 euros which is the average in Albania, or on average about 40% higher than here./monitor