As negotiations on a new directive on an EU minimum wage framework proceed, Eurostat published the first data of the year on the national minimum wage rates of the 21 Member States that have statutory minimum wages; data on six Member States that have minimum wages through collective agreements were not included in the data set.

The statistics show that large disparities among the Member States persist. NineMember States, located in the east of the EU, have minimum wages below €700 per month, six Member States, located in the east and south of the Union, have minimum wages between €730 and €1,126, while in six further countries in central and western Europe statutory minimum salaries range between €1,500 and €2,257.

It is noteworthy that the highest minimum wage (Luxembourg) is almost 7 times higher than the lowest (Bulgaria). Moreover, even after adjusting national statutory wages to price differences across countries and expressing them in terms of purchasing power parities (PPPs), it appears that relative minimum pay is up to three times higher in countries such as Luxembourg and Germany than in countries such as Bulgaria or Latvia. As a general trend, minimum wages are relatively higher in the Western Member States than in Eastern and Southern Member States.

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