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Minimum wage
23 mars 2023
The term ‘minimum wage’ refers to the regulatory restriction on the lowest rate payable by employers to workers. Statutory minimum wages are regulated by formal laws or statutes. Collectively agreed minimum wages are stipulated within collective agreements between trade unions and employers.
Read moreThe term ‘minimum wage’ refers to the regulatory restriction on the lowest rate payable by employers to workers. Statutory minimum wages are regulated by formal laws or statutes. Collectively agreed minimum wages are stipulated within collective agreements between trade unions and employers.
- Infographic: Minimum wages in the EU
- Podcast: Minimum wages
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EU context
Top
Most EU Member States have a statutory national minimum wage in place, although its level, adjustment mechanisms and coverage vary. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden have minimum wages set within collective agreements, while Cyprus has statutory rates for different occupations.
The EU institutions jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017, setting out the EU’s commitment to fair wages for workers. This includes ensuring adequate wages for workers to allow them and their families to have a decent standard of living, safeguarding the ability of the low-skilled and young workers to find employment, while also making work financially attractive.
The new European Commission, which took office in December 2019, reiterated this commitment, putting a reform initiative for an EU minimum wage on the agenda. The Commission’s vision for a strong social Europe prepares the way for an Action Plan to implement the Social Pillar. On 28 October 2020, the Commission put forward a proposal for an EU Directive on adequate minimum wages, following two rounds of consultations with the social partners in February and June. This was followed by a political agreement between the European Parliament and the Member States on 7 June 2022 on the EU Directive. The aim is that by 2024 all workers in the EU should earn a fair and adequate wage, no matter where they live.
- European Commission: Towards a European Pillar of Social Rights
- European Commission: The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles
- European Commission: A strong social Europe for just transitions
- European Commission: Communication and Annex on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions
- European Commission: Advancing the EU social market economy: adequate minimum wages for workers across Member States
- European Commission: Commission welcomes political agreement on adequate minimum wages for workers in the EU
Eurofound’s work on minimum wages links in with the Commission’s 2019–2024 priority on an economy that works for people.
- About Eurofound: EU priorities: Working for a strong social Europe
- European Commission: An economy that works for people
European Industrial Relations Dictionary
Research
TopEurofound provides regular updates on pay in the EU, including an annual study on how minimum wage rates have developed across the EU (as well as Norway and the UK), reviewing how national governments and social partners engage in setting new rates.Read more
Eurofound provides regular updates on pay in the EU, including an annual study on how minimum wage rates have developed across the EU (as well as Norway and the UK), reviewing how national governments and social partners engage in setting new rates. It also looks at the concept of a living wage, aimed at guaranteeing workers and their families a decent level of living and social participation in response to the inadequacy of income for many working households reliant on existing statutory minimum wage rates.
Pay developments
The annual review on minimum wages for 2022 summarises how minimum wage rates were set during 2021.
- Publication: Minimum wages in 2022: Annual review
- Blog: How to ensure adequate minimum wages in an age of inflation
In an earlier study on pay in Europe in the 21st century , Eurofound explored the implications of a hypothetical scenario of a minimum wage coordinated at EU level and set at 60% of the median national wage.
- Publication: Pay in Europe in the 21st century
Impact of COVID-19 for low-wage earners
COVID-19 is likely to impact the ongoing minimum wage debate, as many workers delivering essential services during the pandemic are at the bottom of the pay ladder, like workers in retail, food-supply chains or care roles. Others low-wage workers, like workers in the accommodation and food sector, or in leisure and entertainment services, have been the first affected by unemployment. With unemployment on the rise, it will be important to see how minimum wages can contribute to the policy mix governments and social partners are currently applying to cushion the economic and social impacts. Eurofound’s e-survey on Living, working and COVID-19 shows that nearly half of households are already struggling to make ends meet. Minimum wages could play a policy role in stabilising incomes.
- Publication: Fifth round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty (7 July 2022)
- Database: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch
Minimum wage versus living wage
Most EU countries have a statutory minimum wage. A related but distinct concept is that of a living wage, which is a wage designed to secure a basic but acceptable standard of living for its earner (and, in some cases, household dependents). The living wage rate is based on a detailed, regularly updated costing of the basic services and goods required for such a standard of living and is intended in part to reflect the inadequacy of prevailing statutory minima for that end. Living wage campaigns are generally voluntary and rely on coalitions of interest groups, trade unions and employers working together. These campaigns can take on an advocacy role (Ireland) as well as an accreditation role (UK) where organisations are formally accredited as living wage employers. In line with the fair wage provisions set out in the Social Pillar, Eurofound research aims to provide policymakers with a practical guide to the living wage concept.
- Blog: What Europe can learn from living-wage campaigns
- Publication: Concept and practice of a living wage
Pilot project on minimum wage changes
At the request of the European Parliament and Commission, Eurofound will carry out a pilot project on minimum wage changes in the EU from 2021 to 2023. For more information, see section on ‘Ongoing work’ below.
Key outputs over the years
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Key messages
Top- Women are overrepresented among minimum wage earners in nearly all Member States, irrespective of how minimum wage earners are defined.
- One in 10 workers in the EU earned around the minimum wage (+/- 10%) in 2017.
- In 2019, many EU countries were debating a further substantial increase to minimum wages beyond 2020, partially in relation to a relative target, partially in absolute terms.
- Statutory minimum wages have become fairer as compared to other workers’ wages since the beginning of the millennium, when comparing statutory minimum wages to the median wages of all workers.
- Despite the upward trend, minimum wages in the majority of countries remain below 60% or even below 50% of median wages. This is particularly true in the central and eastern EU Member States, which were starting from very low relative levels at the beginning of the millennium and continue to have targets of around or below 50% in their minimum wage regulations.
- Overall, 7 out of 10 minimum wage workers report at least some difficulty in making ends meet, compared with less than 5 out of 10 other workers; however, these figures vary greatly across countries. For example, less than 10% of minimum wage workers find it difficult to very difficult in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden; compared to 50% to 60% in Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus and 80% in Greece.
- Governments across Europe are reacting with income stabilisation measures for those affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Minimum wages can have a role to play in the policy mix to stabilise incomes and thus help counteract a downward spiral into recession or depression.
- Eurofound’s EU PolicyWatch database also shows that governments have often referred to the statutory minimum wage when determining upper or lower thresholds for the level of income support benefits, such as those for short-time work.
- Database: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch
- Particularly sectors and occupations with larger shares of minimum wage workers are strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: Workers in agriculture (15% minimum wage workers in the sector and around 20% for some agricultural jobs), retail (13%) or cleaners and helpers (25%) are among those who keep a society going during times of social distancing and lockdown.
- Other sectors and occupations with larger shares of minimum wage workers – particularly those in accommodation and hospitality (16%), arts, entertainment, recreation or working in domestic households (14%) or personal services workers (16%) – were among those feeling the effects of the public health measures immediately at the onset of COVID-19.
Publications & data
TopThe sections below provide access to a range of publications, data and ongoing work on this topic.
- Publications tab (157)
- Data
- Ongoing work (1)
Publications tab
Eurofound publications come in a variety of formats, including reports, policy briefs, blogs, articles and presentations.
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Arrangement 10 november 2021Data
A selection of related data on this topic are linked below.
- Data: Statutory minimum wages, 2023
- Data: Proportion of minimum wage workers who find it difficult to make ends meet, EU average
- Data: Minimum wage developments in real terms, 15 euro area countries, 2015 price levels
- Data: Proportion of minimum wage workers who find it difficult to make ends meet
- Database: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch
- Database: Database of wages, working time and collective disputes
Ongoing work
Research continues in this topic on a variety of themes, which are outlined below with links to forthcoming titles.
Pilot project on minimum wages
Following a request from the European Parliament and decision from the European Commission, Eurofound will carry out a pilot project on the 'Role of the minimum wage in establishing the Universal Labour Guarantee' in the EU from 2021 to 2023. The purpose of this pilot project is to provide data and research evidence that will feed into the monitoring of the European Commission’s initiative on adequate minimum wages. The main objectives will be examined in three distinct modules:
- Module 1: Enforcement of minimum wages and compliance – providing a measurement of compliance with minimum wage regulation and discussing the methodological and policy issues related to this measurement
- Module 2: Database on minimum wage rates applicable to low-paid jobs – building a database on minimum wages in collective agreements
- Module 3: Minimum tariffs in collective agreements – to verify the presence of minimum tariffs for self-employed in collective agreements. A report for this module was published in November 2022.
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Eurofound is an agency of the European Union