A living wage, not a minimum wage, so that there is social justice and sufficient funds for the livelihood of workers and their families. In order to feed a family of four, unlike the union basket which at the moment reached MKD 60,000, our calculations are that this amount is not enough and a minimum of MKD 72,300 is needed to get through the month, says the “GlasenTekstilec” association.
Kristina Ampeva from the “GlasenTekstilec” stated that in the salary for a normal life, apart from the standard parameters of health, culture, education, communal services, the expenses that a family of four will have to afford a one-week vacation once a year are also calculated.
“We say the salary should include incidentals. To put it simply, if the dishwasher or washing machine breaks down, don’t take a loan, as we do now, but have an adequate saving from the salary, which is somewhere around 10 percent,” said Ampeva.
She pointed out that this calculation shows that the minimum wage covers only 29 percent of the cost of living. On the other hand, the average salary does not reflect the real situation, because it is a cross section of the highest and lowest incomes.
