According to the research conducted by the Union of Free Trade Unions (USSCG) and the Training, Information and Trade Union Research Centre (CEISI), the trade union consumer basket for this year’s fourth quarter amounts to €1,850.
Following a two-month research period, USSCG and CEISI presented the trade union consumer basket for the fourth quarter of this year at a press conference held on Friday.
USSCG stated in a press release published on its website that the methodology for calculation of the trade union consumer basket was based on comparative experiences and analyses of unions in the surrounding region, whose needs and lifestyles closely resembled the purchasing habits of consumers in Montenegro.
“In addition, when developing the methodology, we took into account meeting certain international standards, as well as comparative data from numerous international websites specializing in statistics and consumer needs analysis in specific countries or parts of Europe and the world,” stated the press release.
Consultations with experts and fieldwork aimed at gathering accurate data on different household expenses were an essential segment in preparing the methodology and creating the initial trade union consumer basket.
The trade union consumer basket covers the cost of living for a four-member household – two adults and two school-aged children, namely a ten-year-old attending primary school and a fifteen-year-old attending secondary school.
USSCG concluded that the current spending of the majority of citizens in Montenegro did not correspond to their monthly incomes.
According to a survey, only 22.3 percent of respondents earn over €1,500 thousand at the household level, which is still insufficient to cover the cost of the trade union consumer basket.
