After the increase of the minimum wage, the others should increase as well, but not suddenly because it can cause inflationary pressure, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said on Thursday. Talks with the unions to find solutions continue, Kovacevski emphasizes, but it is not good that strikes were announced first or are already being organized as a form of pressure, because in the end a solution that everyone will be satisfied with must be found through talks.

I think that all wages should be increased, but that wage increase should be done through a methodological framework that will not be done immediately at some point because it can cause additional inflationary pressure from which no one will benefit given that rising inflation will only eat away at workers’ incomes. That is why the Labor Ministry and the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education are in constant talks with all unions that cover different branches of society, said the Prime Minister in response to a reporter’s question.

He reminded that since 2017 most salaries have increased by more than 20 percent. In education, he said, salaries have risen by a cumulative 21 per cent in recent years, doctors’ salaries have risen, as have health capitulations. He added that all this has been achieved through talks and that this will continue in the future.

He pointed out that he asked all the unions that participated in the social dialogue, that the minimum wage should not be a reason to start protests regarding the increase of wages.