Minimum Wages In Europe – Range from EUR 174 to EUR 1 921 per month

Minimum wages in the EU Member States ranged from EUR 174 to EUR 1 921 per month in July 2014

In 2014, 21 out of the 28 EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden were the exceptions) had a national minimum wage (see Map 1). As of 1 July 2014, monthly minimum wages varied widely, from a low of EUR 174 in Bulgaria to EUR 1 921 in Luxembourg. There was also a national minimum wage in the following candidate countries: Albania, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

Figure 1: Minimum wages, July 2014 (¹)

(EUR per month) – Source: Eurostat (earn_mw_cur)

Figure 1 shows gross minimum monthly wage levels expressed in euro terms in July 2014. The countries are divided into three groups based on the level of their minimum wages. The first group includes 15 countries whose minimum wages were lower than EUR 500 a month: Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Turkey, Croatia and Poland.

The second group comprises five EU Member States (Portugal, Greece, Malta, Spain and Slovenia) and the United States, each with an intermediate level of minimum wages, ranging from EUR 500 to EUR 1 000 a month.

The final group comprises six EU Member States (the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) where minimum wages were above EUR 1 000 per month.

It should be noted that for those EU Member States outside of the euro area that have minimum wages (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom), as well as for Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and the United States, the levels and ranking of minimum wages expressed in euro terms are affected by exchange rates.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Minimum wage statistics – Statistics Explained.