Post by radovic on Apr 22, 2008 13:28:01 GMT -5
Family of four needs more than two average incomes
Thursday, 17 April 2008 21:44
A family of four requires more than twice the average monthly wage in Montenegro to adequately care for itself.
Figures released by the Confederation of Trade Unions of Montenegro (SSCG), show the minimum living costs of a family of four amounted to €842.83 in February this year – more than twice the average monthly wage of €399.
“The consumer basket of SSCG is calculated for a family of four and it can cover only the minimum of living costs,” SSCG told Mina.
According to SSCG calculations, food costs €390.8 or 46.3% of the consumer basket.
In February, a family of four needed €221.6 for housing, €52 for transport, €37.5 for hygiene, €72 for clothes and €68.7 for education and culture.
The Movement for Changes opposition party (PZP) asserts that the adoption of a new consumer basket that includes more items necessary for everyday life, as the main indicator of actual purchasing power, would not suit the government of Montenegro at all, since it would show the catastrophic results of its social policy.
“Citizens know that their purchasing power is continuously decreasing, regardless of the fact that the government boasts that the average wage in Montenegro has grown,” PZP MP, Branka Bošnjak, said.
Some prices were at the European level and some items were even higher than in European cities, while wages in Montenegro are minimal and depressing, Bošnjak said.
More than 60 per cent of Montenegro’s population lives in the poverty zone, while 13 per cent are below the absolute poverty line. “All that reflects the social collapse and hopelessness that Montenegro is in,” said Bošnjak.
Her party advocated the introduction of a mandatory minimum wage of about €280 - approximately 60% of the current average wage.
“PZP believes that a social allowance should be half the average wage, or €200. This would also be the amount for the old age pension, introduction of which we support. Most elderly people today are socially vulnerable people, instead of spending that period of their life in dignity,” Bošnjak said.
Thursday, 17 April 2008 21:44
A family of four requires more than twice the average monthly wage in Montenegro to adequately care for itself.
Figures released by the Confederation of Trade Unions of Montenegro (SSCG), show the minimum living costs of a family of four amounted to €842.83 in February this year – more than twice the average monthly wage of €399.
“The consumer basket of SSCG is calculated for a family of four and it can cover only the minimum of living costs,” SSCG told Mina.
According to SSCG calculations, food costs €390.8 or 46.3% of the consumer basket.
In February, a family of four needed €221.6 for housing, €52 for transport, €37.5 for hygiene, €72 for clothes and €68.7 for education and culture.
The Movement for Changes opposition party (PZP) asserts that the adoption of a new consumer basket that includes more items necessary for everyday life, as the main indicator of actual purchasing power, would not suit the government of Montenegro at all, since it would show the catastrophic results of its social policy.
“Citizens know that their purchasing power is continuously decreasing, regardless of the fact that the government boasts that the average wage in Montenegro has grown,” PZP MP, Branka Bošnjak, said.
Some prices were at the European level and some items were even higher than in European cities, while wages in Montenegro are minimal and depressing, Bošnjak said.
More than 60 per cent of Montenegro’s population lives in the poverty zone, while 13 per cent are below the absolute poverty line. “All that reflects the social collapse and hopelessness that Montenegro is in,” said Bošnjak.
Her party advocated the introduction of a mandatory minimum wage of about €280 - approximately 60% of the current average wage.
“PZP believes that a social allowance should be half the average wage, or €200. This would also be the amount for the old age pension, introduction of which we support. Most elderly people today are socially vulnerable people, instead of spending that period of their life in dignity,” Bošnjak said.