The country with the highest minimum wage rate in Europe during the first half of 2025 was Luxembourg, with a minimum wage of 2638 euros. Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany were the countries with the next highest minimum wages, all above 2000 euros a month, while Albania, Bulgaria, and Montenegro had the lowest minimum wages in the same period.

This dataset provides values for MINIMUM WAGES IN ASIA reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2022, France had the highest real minimum wage at **** U.S. dollars an hour out of all the OECD countries, once adjusted for purchasing power parity. Australia and Luxembourg followed behind at **** dollars per hour. On the other hand, the minimum wage in Malta was only *** dollars per hour.

This dataset provides values for MINIMUM WAGES reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Costa Rica is the country with the highest minimum monthly wage in Latin America. According to the minimum salary established by law as of January 2025, workers in the Central American country enjoy a basic monthly wage of over 726 U.S. dollars, an increase of 2.37 percent compared to the previous year. They also earn over 200 U.S. dollars more than the second place, Uruguay. On the other side of the spectrum is Venezuela, where employees are only guaranteed by law a minimum salary of 130 bolívares or little more than 2.50 dollars per month. Can Latin Americans survive on a minimum wage? Even if most countries in Latin America have instated laws to guarantee citizens a basic income, these minimum standards are often not enough to meet household needs. For instance, it was estimated that almost 25 million people in Mexico lacked basic housing services. Salary levels also vary greatly among Latin American economies. In 2020, the average net monthly salary in Mexico was barely higher than Chile's minimum wage in 2021. What can a minimum wage afford in Latin America? Latin American real wages have generally risen in the past decade. However, consumers in this region still struggle to afford non-basic goods, such as tech products. Recent estimates reveal that, in order to buy an iPhone, Brazilian residents would have to work at least two months to be able to pay for it. A gaming console, on the other hand, could easily cost a Latin American worker several minimum wages.

Data refer to the monthly national minimum wages, established every half year (1st January and July). Minimum wages may be determined by hourly or weekly rates in certain countries; these are converted into monthly rates. The minimum wage agreement process, its application and enforcement may vary by country. Minimum wages are gross amounts, i.e. before deduction of income tax and social security contributions payable by the employee.

This dataset provides values for MINIMUM WAGES reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Since 2005, the gross minimum wage per hour in France has been gradually increasing. In July 2005, the gross minimum wage per hour in France amounted to 8.03 euros. Nineteen years later the hourly minimum wage increased by more than three euros, reaching 11.88 euros in November 2024. In 2023, France had an average annual wage higher than countries like Spain and Italy, but lower than those in Germany or Belgium. Minimum wage is increasing For years now, wages in France have been increasing progressively. In 2013, the gross minimum wage per month in France was 1,430.22 euros, compared to 1766.92 euros in 2024. Thus, the average annual wage in France has risen since the beginning of the 2000s, despite the 2008 financial crisis. The issue of purchasing power In recent years, purchasing power has become one of the most worrying issues for households in France. In 2024, a large part of the French perceived their purchasing power as decreasing, while six years before it had become one of the main causes of the Yellow Vests protests in the country. Studies have shown that the purchasing power in the country reached its lowest level between 2010 and 2014. Household expenditure doubled since 1990, while 52.4 percent of French middle-income households stated having difficulties making ends meet in 2017.

Worldwide, minimum net monthly wages vary from almost ***** U.S. dollars in Luxembourg to ** dollars in Nigeria as of January 2024. Minimum wages must be seen in relation with price levels in a country. One popular way to measure purchasing power is the Big Mac Index.

Most countries in the world have country-level policies concerning their minimum wage-fixing machinery. These policies vary widely, and therefore it becomes important to have adequate classifications of these policies. This paper reviews databases that classify country-level policies for determining minimum wages. Several databases - we found twelve - classify countries according to their minimum wage-fixing mechanisms and the coverage of these mechanisms. The mechanisms indicate whether the minimum wages are set by Law, by Collective Bargaining or any policy in between, the coverage indicates whether the minimum wages cover the entire dependent labour force or only one or more sections within the labour force. The twelve databases vary with respect to the years covered, the countries covered and the characteristics coded. We restricted our analysis to the years 2011 to 2015. The number of countries covered in these databases range from 29 to 189, with 195 countries in total. The merged database reveals that countries are not classified similarly across databases. Between 75% and 93% of the countries apply a statutory minimum wage-fixing mechanism across years and databases. Less than one in ten countries relies solely on minimum wage setting by collective bargaining. In the EU28 plus Norway this percentage is relatively high, but in countries outside Europe it is far below 10%. Two ILO conventions refer to minimum wage-fixing mechanisms. Across years and databases roughly three in five countries that apply a statutory minimum wage-fixing mechanism have signed the oldest Convention (C26), whereas roughly one in three has done so with the most recent Convention (C131). Obviously, many more countries could have signed the Conventions. Only a few countries have signed the Conventions but do not have a statutory minimum wage-fixing mechanism. Among others a few EU28 countries rely solely on collective bargaining for minimum wage setting, and consider that as a national wide fixing mechanism. If countries apply a statutory wage-fixing mechanism, does the minimum wage then cover the entire dependent labour force? Globally, more than half of the countries with a statutory minimum wage apply differentiated minimum wages. Most frequently reported breakdowns are by industry or occupation. Countries with multiple minimum wage rates mimic collective bargaining, particularly when they break down the rates by industry or occupation. The aim of this paper is to generate a Minimum Wage Policies Database (MWPDB) from the merged dataset. Using a set of rules for generating data from the source databases, we indicate for almost half of the 195 countries the presence or absence of a statutory minimum wage for all five years from 2011 to 2015. For 16 countries no valid data is available for any year. Particularly for Europe and South America, MWPDB has satisfactory number of observations, whereas the opposite holds for the small islands in Oceania. The MWPDB results show that approximately nine in ten countries do apply a minimum wage policy, and that this is slightly increasing between 2011 to 2015.

The WSI Minimum Wage Database is constructed by WSI, an institute from the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, and focusses on minimum wages across Europe and in some non-European countries. The database provides an interactive map on which the user can select a country and view its history of minimum wages. Users can also download a static map containing the most recent data and the complete WSI Minimum Wage Database in Excel of PDF format. The main topics discussed are: - minimum wages across Europe. The aim of the database is to provide a structured overview of minimum wages ‘at a glance’. From this overview, users can go more in depth and verify the history of minimum wages in the countries involved.

Minimum Wages in France increased to 1802 EUR/Month in the second quarter of 2025 from 1767 EUR/Month in the fourth quarter of 2024. This dataset provides - France Minimum Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Minimum wage statistics published by Eurostat refer to monthly national minimum wages. The data shown here apply to the situation on 1st of January each year. In some countries the basic national minimum wage is not fixed at a monthly rate but at an hourly or weekly rate. For these countries the hourly or weekly rates are converted into monthly rates. The national minimum wage is enforced by law, often after consultation with the social partners, or directly by national intersectoral agreement (this is the case in Belgium and Greece). The national minimum wage usually applies to all employees, or at least to a large majority of employees in the country. Minimum wages are gross amounts, that is, before deduction of income tax and social security contributions. Such deductions vary from country to country.

This paper proposes a framework to identify the effects of the minimum wage on the joint distribution of sector and wage in a developing country. I show how the discontinuity of the wage distribution around the minimum wage identifies the extent of noncompliance with the minimum wage policy, and how the conditional probability of sector given wage recovers the relationship between latent sector and wages. I apply the method in the PNAD, a nationwide representative Brazilian cross-sectional dataset for the years 2001-2009. The results indicate that the size of the informal sector is increased by around 39% compared to what would prevail in the absence of the minimum wage, an effect attributable to (i) unemployment effects of the minimum wage on the formal sector and (ii) movements of workers from the formal to the informal sector as a response to the policy.

Minimum wage statistics published by Eurostat refer to monthly national minimum wages. The data shown here apply to the situation on 1st of January each year. In some countries the basic national minimum wage is not fixed at a monthly rate but at an hourly or weekly rate. For these countries the hourly or weekly rates are converted into monthly rates. The national minimum wage is enforced by law, often after consultation with the social partners, or directly by national intersectoral agreement (this is the case in Belgium and Greece). The national minimum wage usually applies to all employees, or at least to a large majority of employees in the country. Minimum wages are gross amounts, that is, before deduction of income tax and social security contributions. Such deductions vary from country to country.

Moldova had the highest net minimum monthly wage in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as of the beginning of 2024, at 222 euros. The minimum wage in Azerbaijan ranked second, measuring at 173 euros, closely followed by Russia. The lowest figure was recorded in Uzbekistan, where the minimum wage was just enough to cover basic food expenses. Why does the minimum wage get adjusted? The main idea behind the minimum wage is to improve the living standards of workers, particularly those in low-paid occupations. Furthermore, it strives to reduce the gender pay gap, promote workers’ effort, reduce the number of people in welfare programs, and increase consumption. Due to inflation and rising prices, governments occasionally review the minimum salary to maintain the purchasing power of their citizens. For example, Kazakhstan had one of the highest inflation rates in the CIS region in 2023, at around 15 percent. Consecutively, the minimum wage in the country increased by approximately 21 percent in that year. Is everyone guaranteed the minimum wage? Despite labor law protections in place, holding a job in an unregistered enterprise or working a non-declared job in a registered enterprise allows employees to circumvent minimum wage regulations. For instance, in Russia, employment in the informal sector made up less than a fifth of the total in 2022. The share of those working in industries unregulated by the state increased from the previous year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In April 2021, over a fifth of surveyed Russians admitted to working reduced hours, being furloughed, or becoming unemployed, which made the gray economy sector the only viable option for thousands.

In the second half of 2024, the highest minimum wage in Central and Eastern European countries was recorded in ******** (***** euros). Poland and Lithuania followed. The lowest minimum wage was in ******** at (*** euros) per month.

For cross-country comparisons, data on minimum wage levels are further supplemented with another measure of minimum wages relative to average wages, that is, the ratio of minimum wages to median earnings of full-time employees. Median rather than mean earnings provide a better basis for international comparisons as it accounts for differences in earnings dispersion across countries. However, while median of basic earnings of full-time workers - i.e. excluding overtime and bonus payments - are ideally, the preferred measure of average wages for international comparisons of minimum-to-median earnings, they are not available for a large number of countries.

   Minimum relative to mean earnings of full-time workers are also provided.

China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data was reported at 1,060.000 RMB in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 870.000 RMB for 2010. China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data is updated yearly, averaging 641.000 RMB from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2011, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,060.000 RMB in 2011 and a record low of 367.500 RMB in 2005. China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Labour Market – Table CN.GC: Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage.

As of 2022, Seychelles was the African country with the highest estimated minimum gross monthly wage, standing at ****** U.S. dollars. It was followed by Morocco at ****** U.S. dollars and South Africa ****** U.S. dollars. Among the selected nations, only **** countries had a minimum wage above *** U.S. dollars on the continent. Minimum wage adjustments Legislations regarding minimum wages vary significantly across countries. The minimum remuneration of employees is usually proportionate to a specific area's cost of living. Determining a minimum wage aims to increase employees' living conditions while reducing poverty and inequality. Due to rising prices and inflation, governments occasionally adjust the minimum salary. In Africa, Sierra Leone experienced the highest increase in the minimum wage in recent years, with a growth of almost ** percent between 2010 and 2019. However, governments can also lower minimum wages. Liberia and Burundi reduced the lowest possible remuneration by around ** percent and ***** percent, respectively, between 2010 and 2019. Widespread informal employment Despite legislation in force, minimum wages are not always guaranteed. In fact, several forms of employment allow employers to avoid paying minimum wages. In addition, undeclared work remains a common practice in many countries worldwide. The situation is particularly critical in some African countries. According to estimates, over ** percent of the working population in Niger, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, and Madagascar engaged in informal employment between 2019 and 2023. In Egypt and South Africa, the share stood at ** percent and ** percent, respectively. Seychelles had the lowest rate on the continent at around ** percent.