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| Figure 1: Minimum wages in certain EU Member States (MS), one candidate country (CC) and the USA, January 2007, in euro * : July 2006 data Source : Eurostat, database on minimum wages - access Eurostat report from bottom of page |
In January 2007, 20 of the 27 Member States of the EU had national legislation setting statutory minimum wages1. They varied widely, from €92 per month in Bulgaria to €1,570 per month in Luxembourg.
When adjusted to take into account differences in purchasing power, the disparities between the Member States are reduced from a range of one to seventeen (in euro), to a range of one to seven (in PPS2) with Luxembourg (1 503 PPS per month) the highest and Romania (204 PPS) the lowest.
It should be noted that the proportion of employees receiving the minimum wage also differs greatly between Member States, ranging from less than 1% in Spain to 17% in France.
These figures are published3 by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.
Three groups of countries
Looking at the level of the minimum wage in euro, Member States fell into three broad groups. In Bulgaria (€92 per month), Romania (€114), Latvia (€172), Lithuania (€174), Slovakia (€217), Estonia (€230), Poland (€246), Hungary (€258) and the Czech Republic (€288), minimum wages were below €300 per month in January 2007. Portugal (€470), Slovenia (€522), Malta (€585), Spain (€666) and Greece (€668 in July 2006) fell into a second group, with minimum wages of between €400 and €700 per month. In France (€1 254), Belgium (€1 259), the Netherlands (€1 301), the United Kingdom (€1 361), Ireland (€1 403) and Luxembourg (€1 570) minimum wages were over €1 200 per month.
The Irish hourly Minimum Wage rose to €8.30 per hour with effect from 1 January 2007 and will rise to €8.65 with effect from 1 July, 2007. The 12-month rise will amount to 13%.
For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the USA was €676 per month in January 2007.
Proportion of employees receiving minimum wages ranged from 1% in Spain to 17% in France
The proportion of employees on minimum wages in 2005 was 2% or less in Spain (0.8%), Malta (1.5%), Slovakia (1.7%), the United Kingdom (1.8%) and the Czech Republic (2.0%) and more than 10% in France (16.8%), Bulgaria (16.0%), Latvia (12.0%), Luxembourg (11.0%) and Lithuania (10.3%).
In the USA, 1.3% of employees received the federal minimum wage.
In 2005 and among the Member States for which these data are available, minimum wages represented between a third of the average monthly gross earnings in industry and services in Estonia, Romania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia and a half in Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Bulgaria.
In the USA the federal minimum wage corresponded to 32% of the average monthly gross earnings.
Statutory minimum wages in January 2007
|
Euro* |
PPS* |
National currency |
% of employees receiving the minimum wage, 2005 |
Minimum wage in % of the average monthly gross earnings in industry and services, 2005 |
|
Belgium |
1 259 |
1 203 |
1259 |
: |
: |
|
Bulgaria |
92 |
216 |
180 |
16.0 |
50 |
|
Czech Republic |
288 |
465 |
8 000 |
2.0 |
39 |
|
Estonia |
230 |
362 |
3 600 |
4.8 |
33 |
|
Greece** |
668 |
768 |
668 |
: |
: |
|
Spain |
666 |
724 |
666 |
0.8 |
40 |
|
France |
1 254 |
1 150 |
1 254 |
16.8 |
: |
|
Ireland |
1 403 |
1 141 |
1 403 |
3.3 |
52 |
|
Latvia |
172 |
310 |
120 |
12.0 |
34 |
|
Lithuania |
174 |
324 |
600 |
10.3 |
38 |
|
Luxembourg |
1 570 |
1 503 |
1 570 |
11.0 |
51 |
|
Hungary |
258 |
423 |
65 500 |
8.0 |
38 |
|
Malta |
585 |
805 |
251 |
1.5 |
51 |
|
Netherlands |
1 301 |
1 244 |
1 301 |
2.2 |
46 |
|
Poland |
246 |
389 |
936 |
2.9 |
34 |
|
Portugal |
470 |
546 |
470 |
4.7 |
41 |
|
Romania |
114 |
204 |
390 |
9.7 |
33 |
|
Slovenia |
522 |
701 |
522 |
2.8 |
46 |
|
Slovakia |
217 |
351 |
7 600 |
1.7 |
34 |
|
United Kingdom |
1 361 |
1 292 |
916 |
1.8 |
37 |
|
Turkey |
298 |
498 |
563 |
: |
: |
|
USA |
676 |
779 |
893 |
1.3 |
32 |
* As figures refer to statutory minimum wages applicable on 1 January, the average exchange rate for December 2006 has been used to convert to euros. The conversion rates for PPS are provisional.
** The figures for Greece refer to the minimum wage for non-manual workers. A different rate applies to manual workers. Data refer to July 2006
: Data not available
1. Refers to minimum wages set by national legislation and applicable to the majority of full-time salaried workers in each country. Other minimum wages may exist for certain categories within the country, e.g. based on age, physical or mental capacities, or economic state of the business.
The minimum wages given refer to a gross amount, i.e. before deduction of taxes and social security contributions, which vary from one country to another. In most countries the minimum wage is fixed at a monthly rate, but in a few cases, it is set at an hourly, daily or weekly rate. In these cases, a conversion to a monthly rate has been made.
Where the minimum wage is paid more than 12 times a year (for example, in Spain, Portugal and Greece it is paid 14 times a year), the figures are adjusted to take these additional payments into account.
2. The Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) is an artificial common reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. Thus one PPS buys the same volume of goods/services in all countries.
3. Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, Population and social conditions, 71/2007 "Minimum wages 2007 - Variations from 92 to 1570 euro gross per month" which can be downloaded in PDF format from the Eurostat website.
