In Luxembourg, the monthly minimum wage reaches EUR1,999, the highest in the EU.
In January 2017, ten member states, located in eastern EU, had minimum wages below EUR500 per month: Bulgaria (EUR 235 ), Romania (EUR2 75), Latvia and Lithuania (both EUR380), the Czech Republic (EUR 407), Hungary (EUR412), Croatia (EUR433), Slovakia (EUR435), Poland (EUR453) and Estonia (EUR470).
In five other member states, located in the south, minimum wages were between EUR500 and EUR1,000 per month: Portugal (EUR650), Greece (EUR684), Malta (EUR736), Slovenia (EUR805) and Spain (EUR826).
In the remaining seven member states, all located in the west and north of the EU, minimum wages were well above EUR1,000 per month: the United Kingdom (EUR1,397), France (EUR1,480), Germany (EUR1,498), Belgium (EUR1,532), the Netherlands (EUR1,552), Ireland (EUR1,563) and Luxembourg (EUR1,999).
For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was EUR1,192 per month in January 2017.
Compared with 2008, minimum wages in 2017, expressed in euro, increased in every member state having a national minimum wage, except Greece.
Between 2008 and 2017, minimum wages doubled in Bulgaria (+109%) and Romania (+99%). In addition, Slovakia (+80%) as well as the three EU Baltic Member States – Estonia (+69%), Latvia (+65%) and Lithuania (+64%) also recorded significant increases.
As of January 1, 2017, 22 out of the 28 EU member states have national minimum wages: only Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have one.