More than 350,000 people in Serbia working for less than €200

The Serbian government's Social and Economic Council, unions and the Serbian Association of Employers, have launched negotiations over the minimum wage for 2018. Labour leaders face an uphill battle, EURACTIV.rs reports.

Serbia's trade unions believe that the conditions are ripe for increasing the minimum wage, which does not even cover the cost of a basic consumer basket, while employers are conditioning a rise with a reduction of levies imposed on businesses.

The unions are asking that the minimum hourly wage be hiked from 130 dinars (€1.07) to 154 (€1.3), whereas the Association of Employers is offering a raise of about 8%, to roughly 140 dinars (€1.2), which the government agrees with.

The minimum wage for 2018 is to be defined by 15 September.

The Secretary General of the Association of Independent Unions of Serbia, Zoran Mihajlović, has said that the...

Continue reading on: