Luxembourg minimum wage increase 2027: fake rise or fair €3,000 salary?

OGBL labour union leader Nora Back has called the government’s minimum wage rise a “fake increase”, calling for another €300 to be added to the base salary.

“The government has presented a fake increase in the minimum wage,” Back said in an interview with Contacto. In reality, “there is no extra increase in the minimum wage,” she said.

Back, who is also president of the Chamber of Employees (CSL), was speaking following the government’s announcement that workers in the Grand Duchy earning the unqualified minimum wage would receive an additional €170 from 1 January 2027.

The minister for labour, Marc Spautz, and the minister for the economy, Lex Delles, said the €170 stemmed from the biannual pay rise, which will be 3.8% (€105), on 1 January next year, alongside the 2.5% (€65) salary and pension indexation that is expected to come into effect within the next three months.

Back said this is not “an extra increase as provided for” by a recent European directive. “We continue to demand an increase of €300, on top of the rise triggered by Luxembourg’s mechanisms.”

A genuine increase of €300, plus 11%, should be added to the €170. In total, this would add an additional €470 to the social minimum wage from 1 January 2027. This is the figure for “a fair minimum wage that allows people to live in Luxembourg,” Back stated.

All things considered, “the unskilled minimum wage should be over €3,000 in Luxembourg”, she argued. “The [present] minimum wage in Luxembourg is not enough to live with dignity.”

Currently, the unskilled minimum wage stands at €2,703.74 per month and for skilled workers it is €3,244.48 per month. From 1 January 2027, following the two indexation increases and the biannual review, the unskilled minimum wage will rise to €2,876.64 per month and the skilled minimum wage will be €3,451.96 per month.

If the trade unions’ demand for an extra €300 were adopted, the unqualified minimum wage would rise to €3,176.64, exceeding €3,000, and rise to €3,751.96 for skilled workers.

The labour minister has stated that the government has decided to use 60% of the median wage as a benchmark. The median benchmark means that 50% of the population earns less than this and the other 50% earn more.

Employers pushback

However, the union has criticised the government and employers for using different statistics and calculations to circumvent the extra increase.

All representatives of Luxembourg’s employers – unions, federations and associations – opposed the extra increase in the minimum wage, highlighting the dangers to the currently fragile economy and labour market.

The government has also introduced new support for employers to help them sustain the biannual wage adjustment. Of the 3.8% increase, the state will contribute 1.3%.

Trade unionists claim that the government’s proposal goes “against the principles of dignity and justice”, claiming that it benefits employers and neglects workers.

“The minimum wage is also a matter of justice: it is precisely those working for the minimum wage who contribute most to the economy, whilst receiving the smallest share of what they produce,” stated an OGBL press release published in response to the government’s announcement last week. “In no other income bracket is the discrepancy between the employer’s profit and the workers’ wages so great.”

On Friday afternoon, the déi Greng party echoed these criticisms of the increase announced by the government, labelling it “a fake increase”, and also called for a €300 rise in the minimum wage.

(This article was originally published by Contacto. Translated with the aid of an AI tool and then reviewed and edited by Aaron Grunwald.)