On 1 January 2026, 22 out of 27 EU countries had national minimum wages, all except Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Sweden. 8 countries had minimum wages below €1 000 per month: Bulgaria (€620), Latvia (€780), Romania (€795), Hungary (€838), Estonia (€886), Slovakia (€915) and Czechia (€924)
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nimicdoareu
7 comments
In 6 countries, minimum wages were above €1 500 per month: France (€1 823), Belgium (€2 112), the Netherlands (€2 295), Germany (€2 343), Ireland (€2 391) and Luxembourg (€2 704).
Minimum wage in Portugal is 920€, so it’s 9 countries… (where are they getting 1073€?)
Finland has no statutory minimum wage law; instead, minimum wages are determined by sector-specific collective agreements (TES) negotiated between trade unions and employers’ association.
Easy fix for Latvia 🙂 move employer tax to employee like Lithuania did.
Denmark uses collective agreements. A very low wage is ~ €3.000, around 2000 after tax. Denmark is an expensive country to live in.
That’s damn good **minimal** wages if you ask me
It never ceased to baffle me that so many people cheer for the ”permanently unemployable” class to keep growing. Because that’s what happens when you have a minimum wage and keep raising it.
No, it doesn’t mean ”oh well, I guess now we just pay everybody more”. It means ”oh well, now we have to fire every single person whose monetary productivity value is below XYZ and never ever hire such people again”.