The average net wage in May was 49,544 denars - up 8.2 percent year on year. The trade union minimum basket for the same month was 68,743 denars. The gap is 19,199 denars. In other words, one average wage covers about 72 percent of the calculated basic costs for a household of four.

The growth is real and does not deserve cynicism. According to the State Statistical Office, the average gross wage reached 74,482 denars, with the biggest annual growth recorded in water supply and waste management, in arts, entertainment and recreation, and in transport and storage. The cost of living in May was 4.8 percent higher than a year earlier - so wages are rising faster than prices. Mathematically, that is good news.

The problem is that the maths is not evenly distributed

The average wage refers to one employee, while the union basket is a model for a four-person household. In a family with two earners the total income is higher and the comparison looks better. Which is exactly why what happens at the other end of the distribution matters.

The minimum wage is 26,046 denars. Two minimum wages together come to 52,092 denars - 16,651 denars below May's union basket. So a household where both parents work legally, full time, for the minimum wage still ends up below the calculated minimum. No luxuries, no unplanned expenses, no room to save.

The number missing from the release

The Macedonian release for May published the average wage, but not the median. That does not mean the average is wrong - it means the public gets only part of the picture. An average can be pulled up by a smaller number of high salaries, bonuses and well-paid sectors. The median shows the employee in the middle: the person with half of all employees above them and half below.

How much that difference matters is visible next door. In Serbia the average net wage in May was 118,398 dinars, but the Serbian Statistical Office also publishes a median - it stood at 93,277 dinars, or around 79 percent of the average. The gap between the two figures is 25,121 dinars. Same month, same country, two completely different stories depending on which number you put in the headline.

Without a median, without data by income bracket and without a clear picture of how many employees sit below the average, the figure of 49,544 denars becomes political information more than social information. The government highlights the growth, the opposition highlights the empty wallet, and households live in the gap between the income they received and the costs they have to pay.

A decent wage is not one that covers only food and bills. It should leave room for health, education, a holiday, an unplanned expense and at least a small amount of savings. At 72 percent coverage of the basket, that room does not exist. The next release will bring another new average. The more important question will stay the same: how many people are actually close to that average, and how many are far below it.