Minimum salary for culture, arts employees with higher degree to rise to €942 in 2017
Following a decision of the government, the minimum salary of employees in the culture sector that have a higher education degree will be raised to €942 in 2017. To compensate for the step, the Ministry of Culture will reallocate more than a million euros.
As ETV newscast “Aktuaalne Kaamera” reported on Tuesday, the minimum salary of this particular group of professionals has to rise to the national average by 2020. The basis for this is an agreement between the government and the trade unions representing professionals in culture and the arts.
The 3.3% increase of the culture salary fund decided on by the government this week is a step closer to this goal.
Minister of Culture Indrek Saar (SDE) confirmed that this would mean a minimum salary of €942 for this group next year, a 13.5% increase compared to 2016’s €830. Saar’s ministry will also make some €1.1m available to maintain wage differences between management-level positions and employees with a degree, and thereby keep up the existing hierarchies in cultural institutions.
The effect on those institutions varies greatly; while roughly a third of the employees of the National Library (Rahvusraamatukogu) will benefit from the decision, for those working in the musical arts, this is already the second round they are missing out, as the number of employees in this group with higher education degrees is low.
Besides the additional funding allocated by the ministry, 2017’s social tax cut (currently planned to be 0.5%) is expected to make more money available for this step.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn