BEERG Newsletter - Europe: Minimum wage report

Eurofound reports that nominal minimum wage rates rose significantly in 2022, compared with 2021. In 20 of the 21 European Union member states with statutory minimum wages, rates increased. When inflation is taken into account, however, the minimum wage increased in real terms in only six member states. If current inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow at all in real terms in any country in 2022.

The Dublin-based EU research institute also says that the proposed EU directive on adequate minimum wages is already prompting a few Member States to refocus debates on the topic and prepare for change in areas such as setting the criteria for wage setting or raising wages in line with the ‘international reference values’ mentioned in the proposal. Germany, for example, has decided to uprate its minimum wage to €12 per hour, or about 60% of median wages, in October 2022.

However, Eurofound finds that substantial debates among national actors on how to promote collective bargaining and increase bargaining coverage are taking place in only Denmark, Latvia, and Norway.