Sad reality. The survey showed how much money Slovak families need in order to live happily TVNOVINY.sk – TVNOVINY.sk

The trade union (OZ) KOVO appeals to the Slovak government not to be indifferent to the deteriorating social situation of Slovakia’s citizens and to adopt measures to mitigate the negative effects of rising prices and inflation. At Wednesday’s press conference in Prešov, they pointed to a survey conducted on a sample of 1,128 respondents.
According to trade unionists, its results showed that there are significant differences between the amount of real expenses and the amount that households would need for a dignified life. A single-person household has real expenses at the level of 1,128 euros, to ensure a decent standard of living, it would need a net income of at least 1,785 euros. A two-person household has expenses of 1,697 euros and would need 2,756 euros. A household of three has expenses of 2,091 euros and would need 3,086 euros. The expenses of a four-member household amount to 2,465 euros and would need at least 3,542 euros.
What do families spend the most money on? “There is a big difference, for example, in the current income of a four-member family and in what they would need, it comes out to 1,000 euros. Up to 40 percent of families or households do not give any money, for example, to education,” emphasized socio-economic analyst OZ KOVO Ján Košč.
“Households spend the most money on food, housing, loan repayments and transport. On the contrary, they spend the least amount of money on recreation, culture, education and creating savings,” added Monika Benedeková, vice-president of the OZ KOVO Council, adding that 28 percent of households do not save anything income.
According to her, there is a decline in the standard of living, especially among the middle and socially weaker strata of the population, which also affects economic development in the Slovak Republic.
“Compared to last year, we have not improved at all. We are still somewhere at the tail end of the European Union in terms of the amount of income. That is why we want to appeal to politicians to really take compensatory measures. Especially in relation to middle-class employees, low-income groups. Of course, we want the minimum wage, the average wage continued to grow and the living wage became a reality,” Bendeková stated that they also want social dialogue to be strengthened and collective bargaining to improve.
The anti-inflation measures taken by the state so far are focused on a pro-family policy, which Benedeková described as correct, “but it certainly does not solve the problems of childless employees, pensioners and other groups”.
“Securing income for the middle and low class should be the number one topic in society. The reality is that the middle class has slowly disappeared from us. The vast majority of employees and their families do not have what they need for a full and dignified life,” he added. OZ KOVO specialist for social issues Jozef Balica.