The minimum wage in the EU in 2015
Posted by Veronika 17/04/2015 at 09h30
The minimum wage in the EU in 2015
The minimum wage in European countries regularly increases. Since 1 January 2015, the minimum wage increased from 8, 500 CZK per month to 9, 200 CZK per month or from 50, 60 CZK per hour to 55 CZK per hour. However, the Czech Republic still occupied the fourth lowest position of the EU Member States, lower minimum wage is only in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania. The minimum monthly wage is higher than 40 thousand Czech crowns in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain; it even exceeds the 50 thousand crowns in Luxembourg. Minimum wage isn´t defined by legislation in six EU countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Cyprus and Austria) - there it is usually negotiated in collective agreements or tariffs exist for certain professions. In the table below, there are EU Member States which have a minimum wage set out by legislation.
| EU Member States | The minimum wage in the national currency | Approximate conversion to CZK |
| Luxembourg | 1 923 EUR | 52 584 CZK |
| Great Britain | 1 127 GBP | 42 707 CZK |
| Belgium | 1 502 EUR | 41 072 CZK |
| Netherlands | 1 502 EUR | 41 072 CZK |
| Germany | 1 473 EUR | 40 279 CZK |
| Ireland | 1 462 EUR | 39 978 CZK |
| France | 1 458 EUR | 39 869 CZK |
| Slovenia | 789 EUR | 21 575 CZK |
| Malta | 720 EUR | 19 688 CZK |
| Spain | 649 EUR | 17 747 CZK |
| Greece | 586 EUR | 16 024 CZK |
| Portugal | 505 EUR | 13 809 CZK |
| Poland | 1 750 PLN | 11 931 CZK |
| Croatia | 3 030 HRK | 10 926 CZK |
| Estonia | 390 EUR | 10 664 CZK |
| Slovakia | 380 EUR | 10 391 CZK |
| Latvia | 360 EUR | 9 944 CZK |
| Hungary | 105 000 HUF | 9 678 CZK |
| Czech Republic | 9 200 CZK | 9 200 CZK |
| Lithuania | 300 EUR | 8 204 CZK |
| Romania | 975 RON | 6 044 CZK |
| Bulgaria | 360 BGN | 5 032 CZK |
Note: converted at the current exchange rate on 14 April 2015
Opinions for the minimum wage are different. The minimum wage may be an important motivating factor. In short - the work should be worth it and the standard of living of people who are working for minimum wage should be higher than if they were long-term unemployed. However, we must take into account the system of taxation and insurance - the high minimum wage increases labor costs of employers. The work is expensive and it is negative for business development and supply of labor, because they usually occur layoffs. The minimum wage is around 40% of the average wage in Western Europe. In the Czech Republic, the average wage is around 27 000 CZK, which means about 34% of the average wage.