Brussels – Minimum wage: a rule for many but not quite for all. Everyone does what one sees fit as it falls exclusively under national competence. So, the newly published Eurostat data is not surprising — it is simply an update of a long-standing situation that has not changed much. Between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2025, what changes is the increase in the number of member states to legally provide for a minimum wage, from 21 to 22 countries. Compared with five years ago, Cyprus introduced a legally guaranteed paycheck, leaving Italy, Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden as the exceptions.
Calculated differently and tied to the cost of living in each country, the minimum wage varies in terms of its real purchasing power. Thus, practically half of the member states — 10 out of 22 — provide a minimum salary of less than a thousand euros. This is the case in Bulgaria (the equivalent of 551 euros), Hungary (the equivalent of 707 euros), Latvia (740 euros), Romania (the equivalent of 814 euros), Slovakia (816 euros), Czech Republic (the equivalent of 826 euros), Estonia (886 euros), Malta (961 euros), Greece (968 euros), and Croatia (970 euros).
In six other EU member states, it ranges from 1,000 to 1,500 euros per month. This is the case in Cyprus (1,000 euros), Portugal (1,015 euros), Lithuania (1,038 euros), Poland (the equivalent of 1,091 euros), Slovenia (1,278 euros), and Spain (1,381 euros). In the remaining six states, on the other hand, the minimum wage is higher than 1,500 and even exceeds the two-thousand euro threshold. It is the case in France (1,802 euros), Belgium (2,070 euros), Germany (2,161 euros), the Netherlands (2,193 euros), Ireland (2,282 euros), and Luxembourg (2,638 euros).
The data also show a decrease in the wage differential. In 2020, Luxembourg’s minimum wage — the highest of all — was seven times that of Bulgaria, the lowest, but it is now just under five times (4.8 times, European Statistical Institute points out).
The updated figures and situation revive the political debate, particularly in Italy. “This government must wake up. Otherwise, young Italians will only be able to emigrate to find a fair and equitable wage,” said Pasquale Tridico, head of the 5 Star Movement delegation to the European Parliament. The ‘brain drain’ issue is not new, and it also has to do with the minimum wage issue. Work is underway at a European level, but a push is also needed in Italy.
“The Eurostat data published today show that Italian workers are discriminated against compared to their European colleagues,” the M5S MEP added. “Minister Calderone must explain how it is possible that in Italy as many as 5.7 million employees receive less than 850 euros net per month, a figure that rises to 7.7 million workers if the income received is less than 1,200 euros,” Tridico said. This is to emphasize that “starvation wages are one of the main plagues of our country, a shame towards which the government and the majority show indifference.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
