Since January 1st of this year, we have entered a new phase of wage growth, with a clear direction: real income increase and protection of purchasing power. This is not only about nominal wages, which, from the minimum wage at the national level, have increased to 500 euros, or on average have reached about 10%, with a steady pace in both the public and private sectors.
Here we are talking about what we have lacked as a mechanism, not because we did not know the lack, but because we could not address it due to the lack of economic opportunities. Today, since the economy has given us new opportunities, we have decided to index wages in the public sector every two years, with additional mechanisms for different categories, and thus correct the impact of inflation on wages for teachers, doctors, nurses, police employees, military personnel, and administration.
Special attention has been given to the healthcare system, where from June, wages will also increase in some critical services. Emergency doctors will be treated at the same level as others even regarding on-call duties, which are an extra burden. Meanwhile, concrete supplements will reach 18,000 lek per month for doctors and 12,000 lek for nurses and technicians, accompanied by higher wages for shifts and a re-evaluation system for experience.
It is a direct intervention where responsibility is highest and where the system requires daily support. It is a sustainable policy, because it is a sustainable economic growth and necessary mechanisms, which this economic growth has made possible and, certainly, also measurable in what is the account of every family that lives with honest work," said Rama.