The 2016 national budget agreed in the government coalition will raise both the minimum wage of cultural professionals with higher education and the wage fund of coaches belonging to higher professional category by 10 %.
Minister of Culture Indrek Saar explained that the wage increase agreed of cultural professionals with higher education with full-time position is consistent with the objectives of source documents “The general principles of cultural policy until 2020” and “The general principles of the Estonian sports policy until 2030”.
“The Government provided additionally nearly 2.2 million euros for the wages of cultural professionals, which enables to increase the minimum wages of cultural professionals with higher education by 10 %. Therefore, the minimum wage of a cultural professional with higher education, who is working full-time, will be 804 euros per month,” Saar said. He added that the primary objective is to provide a more secure footing for lower-wage employees and to this end, it is important to consider current wage levels of employees with higher education in various institutions.
The wage level of cultural professionals that has been planned in the budget of the Ministry of Culture concerns all cultural professionals with a higher education, who are working full-time in a professional position requiring a university degree:
• in a government authority;
• in a state-owned private foundation;
• in a public law agency.
Currently, the minimum wage of a full-time cultural professional with higher education is 731 euros. The new figure of the minimum wage will be fixed during the negotiations with the Estonian Employees’ Unions’ Confederation (TALO).
Saar added that similarly to cultural professionals, the wages of coaches belonging to higher professional category will also increase. “The labour cost fund for coaches belonging to the professional categories within the range of 5th–7th will also increase by 10 % compared to this year,” the Minister of Culture noted.
There are also other sources of wage funds: according to the decision of the Government, the number of public sector workers will decrease by 750, or 1.4 % over the next year. The released budget is promised to be targeted at the restructuring processes, including the wages of employees, arising from the reduction in workforce.