Education can be the answer and initiator of economic growth, job creation and social justice, an answer to future professions and skills needs. Education contributes to political development by creating national identity and integration, but it is also a way to experience the full diversity of European identity. A higher level of education of an individual influences the promotion of critical thinking, and also, education contributes to the development of an individual's environmental awareness and behavior. Investing in knowledge pays off in both the individual and the social level, it is the basis for the development of modern society, which, if knowledge is the main creative driver in personal, economic, social, cultural and material progress, can be called the society of knowledge. In all societies, it is necessary to recognize knowledge and education as initiators of development and to allocate the necessary part of public funds for them, which should not be seen as an expense but as an investment. Educational process leaders are teachers and teachers who need to be adequately paid for their work that they are not, and underpayment causes a shortage of employees in the education system and the problem of attracting and retaining top quality teaching staff, especially STEM subjects and informatics. In seeking the right for a fair wage for their work, the Croatian Teachers Union and the Independent Union of Employees in Secondary Schools of the Republic of Croatia on October 1, 2019 submitted to the Government of the Republic of Croatia an announcement of a strike in primary and secondary schools until they were satisfied with the job complexity coefficients and the wage gap in relation to other public services and the entire public sector. This master thesis explores the differences between salaries within public services, analyzes the possible causes of problems, as well as the possibilities and benefits of eliminating them.