(10 February 2017) – The 22 EU Member States that have national minimum wages can be divided into three main groups based on the level in euro.
In January 2017, ten Member States, located in the east of the EU, had minimum wages below €500 per month: Bulgaria (€235), Romania (€275), Latvia and Lithuania (both €380), the Czech Republic (€407), Hungary (€412), Croatia (€433), Slovakia (€435), Poland (€453) and Estonia (€470).
In five other Member States, located in the south, minimum wages were between €500 and €1 000 per month: Portugal (€650), Greece (€684), Malta (€736), Slovenia (€805) and Spain (€826).
In the remaining seven Member States, all located in the west and north of the EU, minimum wages were well above €1 000 per month: the United Kingdom (€1 397), France (€1 480), Germany (€1 498), Belgium (€1 532), the Netherlands (€1 552), Ireland (€1 563) and Luxembourg (€1 999).
For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was €1 192 per month in January 2017.