Of those countries in the European Union that adhere to a minimum wage structure, the UK has the seventh highest minimum wage , according to a report published by Eurostat earlier this month.
Of the 22 EU member states with a minimum wage, workers in Luxembourg earn the highest monthly wage (€1,999/£1,696 per month) while workers in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France also compare favourably to the UK (€1,397 /£1185) , according to the report, valid as of January 1, 2017.
The UK’s monthly figure is converted using the national minimum wage of £7.20 per hour (hourly rate x mean basic paid hours per week for full-time employees in all sectors x 52.18 weeks) / 12 months.)
Workers in seven of the 22 EU countries with a minimum wage receive in excess of £848 per month and all of them, including the UK, are located in the west and north of the EU.
The other six countries in that group are Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.
Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have a minimum wage.
At the other end of the scale, Bulgaria had the lowest minimum wage (£199 per month), followed by Romania (£233), Latvia and Lithuania (both £322), the Czech Republic (£345), Hungary (£349), Croatia (£367), Slovakia (£369), Poland (£384) and Estonia (£398).
The report notes that for those EU Member States outside of the euro area that have minimum wages (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom), as well as for the United States, the levels and developments of minimum wages expressed in euro may differ from those expressed in national currency, due to exchange rate effects.
