STA, 5 June 2019 - Slovenia ranks ninth among 22 EU member states that have statutory minimum wages in terms of the gross minimum wage rate. This year's increase of the country's figure to EUR 886.63 was among the modest ones, says the annual report on minimum wages in the EU and Norway, published by Eurofound on Monday.

The highest rate was registered in Luxembourg (EUR 2071.10), while Bulgaria has the lowest (EUR 286.33).

The report of the EU Agency for the improvement of living and working conditions placed Slovenia among the countries with the lowest share of minimum wage earners - 4.1%. The country ranked sixth in this category, with Czechia (2%) ranking the lowest and Poland ranking the highest (13.7%).

The survey registered big differences among all participating countries in this category, noting that in 2016 the average share of minimum wage earners in the EU was 7.2%.

Eurofund also pointed at considerable differences between the gross and net rates, saying that in Slovenia a share of 24.77% of the total minimum wage value is contributed to the social security system, including taxes and contributions. The country's share is among the higher ones in that respect.

The survey said that almost all countries, excluding Latvia, had increased the minimum wage rate since January 2018, with Slovenia raising it by 5.2% in nominal terms. The increase was quite modest, listing the country as third in the group of six countries with mid-level minimum wage rates - Slovenia ranked behind Malta (1.93%) and Portugal (3.45%).

The issue of minimum wage rate has been in the spotlight recently. The National Assembly adopted the Left's proposal for the minimum wage act in December 2018 despite employers' opposition, thus raising the rate.

The act stipulates that all allowances will be excluded from the statutory rates as of 2020 and will thus have to be paid on top. It also regulates the rate's lower and upper limit, setting the bar at at least 20% and top 40% above calculated minimum living expenses.

Employers argue that the adoption was rash and will have a detrimental effect on the whole society, while trade unions are willing to protect the act by any means necessary. Meanwhile, the government keeps insisting that the risks are manageable.

STA, 8 May 2019 - The opposition Democrats (Slovenska demokratska stranka, SDS) have initiated a motion to exclude healthcare and the army from the uniform system covering wages across the entire public sector, in what could be the dismantling of a complex scheme put in place by an SDS-led government in 2008.

A decade after it was established the system is causing dissatisfaction, in particular when it comes to incentivising the best performers and those with the biggest workload, SDS deputy Jelka Godec told the press on Wednesday. "The most severe anomalies, discrepancies and warnings come from defence and healthcare," she said.

The SDS demands an emergency session of parliament to debate its motion. It proposes that the government prepare an analysis of the system complete with a set of proposals on how to tackle them, which should include the possibility of excluding healthcare and soldiers from the single system.

Janez Janša, the leader of the SDS, wrote on Twitter yesterday that "after 11 years you can see from the Moon what works and that doesn't". He said the single pay system should be preserved for the public administration but "healthcare, the army, police... must go their own way".

The motion comes in the midst of one of the most severe crisis in healthcare, which is faced with the prospect of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of general practitioners leaving the public system due to what they claim are unreasonable workloads.

At several community health centres around the country most if not all GPs have handed their notices in a final escalation of tensions with the government and the public health insurer ZSSS.

In Kranj, one of the areas hit the worst by the doctors' action, almost all GP offices are closed as the doctors use up their remaining holiday days before their notices become effective, leaving the emergency service to do the work of GPs, which has led to long waiting times.

In recent weeks the government has been scrambling to come up with a solution that would be financially sustainable while also placating the doctors, but at this point a solution is not in sight.

The SDS motion dovetails with the demands of doctors, who have long argued that the single pay system is too restrictive, even as they managed to win considerable pay rises in the last few years above what other public sector employees have received.

One trade union of doctors, Praktikum, was even found to have egged on doctors to quit in order to force community health services to hire them as sole proprietors, which would liberate them from some of the bureaucracy while removing any pay restrictions.

But many in government fear any one portion of the public sector leaving the single pay system would lead to its collapse and trigger unbridled pay demands across the public sector that may jeopardise the stability of public finances.

Alenka Forte, who heads the SDS's health committee, however said today that exclusion of healthcare from the single pay system would be "a condition without which it is impossible to start improving Slovenian healthcare."

"Those who want improvements in healthcare must stop with ideology, they should not compare us to Venezuela. We need to look at best practices in the EU and start working on making healthcare serve the patients," she said.

The Public Administration Ministry said in a response that individual profession groups or parts of the public sector leaving the uniform system was not a guarantee that their pay would be regulated in a more appropriate way.

The ministry said that the SDS probably assumed that partial negotiations would make it easier for an individual profession group to get higher pay.

It meanwhile believes that the uniform system provides better possibilities for rewarding best performers and those with the biggest workload. It will soon present to public sector trade unions and negotiate relevant changes to the system.

The ministry also noted that Public Administration Minister Rudi Medved and PM Marjan Šarec had stressed on several occasions that the exit of one or more profession groups from the system could cause it to collapse.

The system would become non-transparent and hard to manage, it said, adding that the "assessment that the wage bill for public sector employees would increase even further is justified."

Mladina: Low Salaries in Slovenia are Because of Company Policies, Not Taxes

STA, 11 January 2019 - The weekly Mladina says that wealthy entrepreneurs are preparing the battle field ahead of a tax reform planned by the government. They are narrating a story of an engineer who is paid poorly due to high taxes and decides to leave the country to work abroad where taxes are lower. This, as it turns out, is nothing but a myth, Mladina says.

Under the headline “Abused Engineers”, the latest editorial of the left-leaning magazine says that engineers do make less in Slovenia than they would, for example, in Austria.

But this is not because of higher taxes but because company owners, Mladina specifically points to the owner of a successful exhaust maker Igor Akrapovič, do not give them higher pay.

Moreover, engineers are actually paid far less than what the entrepreneurs claim, the paper says, suggesting the bosses are actually talking about themselves.

In fact, income taxes for what engineers actually make in Slovenia are lower than in Austria. Only if they were paid as much as company owners claim they are, would the income tax be higher, a Mladina journalist has found.

He also busted the myth that engineers are leaving the country, providing numbers that only 70 engineers left Slovenia between 2012 and 2017. Most of them went to Croatia, which suggests that they were Croatian citizens studying in Slovenia who returned home after graduation.

"Will we allow yet another coup of demagogy? Will they abuse our empathy again?" the weekly wonders.

Reporter: President Pahor is an inclusive statesman

Note: this editorial is actually from last week

STA, 31 December - The right-leaning weekly Reporter commends President Borut Pahor in its latest commentary for his effort to be a voice of reason and a statesman who wants to build bridges rather than ostracise.

As he addressed an open day at the Presidential Palace to mark Independence and Unity Day, the president said he wanted more mutual respect in the coming year, editor-in-chief Silvester Šurla notes in More Respect in 2019!

He adds that Pahor had asked at the national holiday more than 500 visitors to carry on his call for mutual respect, understanding and respect of differences.

The president's words are welcome and they again confirm that Pahor is or at least tries to be the president of all Slovenians more than any of other presidents before him.

"He is making an effort to be a voice of reason, a statesman who does not exclude, but connects."

According to Šurla, in the increasingly politically polarised world, full of ostracising and hatred, such a stance by the president is not always welcomed, unfortunately.

Pahor is being attacked more from the left than from the right, which is very telling. What the leftist ideological extremists have been bothered by most during Pahor's reign is his normal relationship with the political right, concludes the commentary.

All our posts in this series can be found here

STA, 29 November 2018 - The first reading in the National Assembly of a bill raising the minimum wage by overhauling the way it is calculated indicated that the changes, proposed by the opposition Left with the tentative support of the coalition, are likely to be watered down somewhat during the adoption process.

While all parties agreed the minimum wage, currently at EUR 638 net, was too low, they mostly found issues with the bill.

The motion, coming after basic welfare allowance went up from EUR 297 to EUR 393 earlier this year, would increase the minimum wage by roughly 5% in 2019 and just as much in 2020. In 2021 it introduces a calculation formula that would keep it 20% above minimum living costs.

The main objection raised on Thursday by most coalition parties and the government as it held a correspondence session had to do with to the timeline of the raise, which is closely linked to the exclusion of individual bonuses and allowances from the calculation of the minimum wage.

"A predictable business environment is crucial for the economy in Slovenia, which is why the minimum wage needs to be raised in a well though-out, predictable and gradual way. When considering predictability, it is inappropriate that changes adopted in December 2018 already enter into force in January 2019," the government wrote.

All our stories on Slovenia’s minimum wage are here

It highlighted the need to phase out the bonuses - employers have been including various bonuses into the minimum wage - gradually, arguing "this would give the public as well as private sector enough time to adjust".

While asserting it was in favour of the goals of the proposal, the government reached out to employers, who have been complaining the changes were drafted without social dialogue.

It said that "it would make sense when searching for the most appropriate solutions in the next stages of the legislative procedure to consider social dialogue to the highest extent possible and adjust the enforcement's dynamics for individual solutions".

The proposal in general was rejected only by the opposition New Slovenia (NSi), whose Jožef Horvat said the rise would disrupt the balance of the wage scale, and by the opposition Democrats (SDS) whose Karmen Furman identified a misguided wage policy combined with a misguided social transfers policy as the reason for this disruption.

The two parties also highlighted the absence of social dialogue, while Jerca Korče of the senior coalition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) said the Economic and Social Council had had a number of opportunities to discuss a higher minimum wage.

"I have the feeling that the time will never be right for this debate," she said, also rejecting accusations that an effort was under way to revive "an outdated social model" and to meddle in the economy.

"The state has to see the whole picture, which is comprised of both business and the recipients of the minimum wage. Because the wage did not increase on its own, politics assessed it was time to intervene," she said.

Joining the Left in supporting the changes in their current form was the opposition National Party (SNS), whose Dušan Šiško was however simultaneously critical of the raised welfare allowance.

In the end, the bill was endorsed in a unanimous vote with the SDS and NSi abstaining.

Related: Find out the average pay for various jobs in Slovenia

STA, 7 November 2018 - Employers were quick to condemn the planned overhaul of the minimum wage law, especially the way it is to be pushed through parliament. The Employers' Association stressed that any changes to minimum wage should be harmonised with social partners at the country's main industrial relations forum, the Economic and Social Council.

The Left presented on Wednesday a proposal to overhaul the way minimum wage is determined. The opposition party that acts as a partner to the minority government proposes raising the minimum wage to EUR 667 next year and to EUR 700 in 2020, before a new formula to calculate the wage is introduced in 2021.

Related: Proposal to raise Slovenia’s minimum wage from €638.42 net to €700 by 2020

The Employers' Association is unhappy with the way the bill was presented, "bypassing any dialogue with social partners". According to a press release, employers have experience with this practice, which has had serious consequences for companies.

Determining the minimum wage must be a matter of discussions and harmonisations among social partners, but the new bill has not even been presented to the Economic and Social Council, the association said.

Even stronger reaction came from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), the country's biggest trade association, which called the proposal dangerous and expressed "shock" that the coalition should have backed it.

"It's trampling international agreements on social dialogue, something that government officials committed to at the first session of the Economic and Social Council over a week ago."

The GZS noted that only over a week ago it had "received a clear assurance from the prime minister that any change to the minimum wage would be agreed with the social partners".

The figures in the chart show the gross minimum wage. Data: Eurostat

The Left's leader Luka Mesec said today that the party had agreed with Prime Minister Marjan Šarec for the bill to be discussed at the Economic and Social Council.

Nevertheless, employers are unhappy: "It is the middle of November, and companies and employers still do not know what kind of arrangement awaits them next year," the Employers' Association said.

The GZS said that most large companies would not feel the planned rise in the minimum wage, but that the increase would hurt companies where value added per employee was below EUR 20,000 and which employed 70,000 people.

The chamber argued that politics was interfering with the minimum wage all the time even though the share of those receiving it had been falling steadily and that even though the minimum wage in Slovenia was one of the highest in the EU.

"Each rise in the minimum wage generates more employees who earn minimum wage because it includes all those who had been in higher bracket until then," GZS said.

According to its data, average gross pay in the country has increased by 11% since 2010, while the minimum wage has risen by 41%.

The Chamber of Trade Crafts and Small Business (OZS) meanwhile said that it strives not only for raising the minimum wage but also for workers to have decent wages.

However, the state should cut labour costs to enable the workers to get higher net wages. "The difference between the gross and the net pay is too big. The state will get the most from raising wages," OZS head Branko Meh was quoted in a press release.

STA, 7 November 2018 - The Left has tabled a minimum wage bill determining a new formula for setting the minimum wage as of 2021, and the rates for 2019 and 2020. The legislation has already been endorsed in principle by all coalition parties.

Under the proposal, the minimum wage, which currently stands at EUR 638.42 net, will rise to EUR 667 next year and to EUR 700 in 2020.

The minimum wage is currently determined by the minister in charge of labour based on inflation and, optionally, other macroeconomic trends.

Under the new formula to enter into effect as of 2021, the minimum wage will have to exceed the minimum living costs by at least 20%, which would currently net workers EUR 736 a month, the Left's leader Luka Mesec told the press on Wednesday.

According to him, the formula ensures that "all those who work eight hours a day will no longer scrape by at the poverty line, as they have so far".

The Left also wants all the bonuses determined by law and collective bargaining agreements excluded from the minimum wage and paid separately as of 2019, but the exact date is yet to be harmonised.

The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities proposes 2020 as the year for excluding the bonuses.

"Bonuses will be excluded, it's a fact. The question is just what the most appropriate date is," Mesec said.

While all coalition parties have endorsed the bill, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) yesterday voiced some concerns, including about using the new formula.

But Mesec dismissed these concerns, saying that "apparently they are not in line with their own ministry, which has backed the formula in its expert opinion".

According to him, the ministry said in its opinion that the formula determines a sensible balance between the income of working people and the income of inactive population.

Mesec also refuted the SMC's concern that the bill was not discussed with social partners, noting that it had been agreed with the prime minister the bill would be discussed at the Economic and Social Council, the country's main industrial relations forum.

Addressing concerns about the impact on the budget, Mesec added that it is "virtually neutral, because higher pay in public and private sectors mean more tax receipts."

The Labour Ministry's data show that around 42,000 people, of which nearly 35,000 are in the private sector, currently receive minimum wage.

However, the rise of the minimum wage in January as proposed in the bill will in fact affect around 70,000 workers, Mesec said.

Related: Slovenia Ranks 7th in EU for Exports as Share of GDP, 8th in Minimum Wage

Significant minimum wage increases planned in new bill (adds)

STA, 17 October 2018 - The government adopted its negotiating position for talks with public sector trade unions, which Public Administration Minister Rudi Medved said would start on Friday. 

STA, 16 July 2018 - Average pay in Slovenia was at EUR 1,663 gross and EUR 1,078 net in May. The figures were slightly down compared to the month before but an improvement over May 2017, the Statistics Office said on Monday. 

STA, 22 May 2018 - Social affairs and labour market rank prominently in many election manifestos. Most of the parties running in the 3 June election support an increase in the minimum wage and several propose fixing a maximum ratio between the highest and lowest pay. A few would also try a universal basic income (UBI).