Following the last automatic wage indexation on 1 October 2021 in Luxembourg, the applicable social minimum wage is currently €2,256.95 for an unskilled worker aged 18 years or above.
Across the European Union (EU), as of January 2022, 21 Member States have a national minimum wage, with Bulgaria at the lowest end at €332 gross per month and Luxembourg as the top with €2,257 (rounded). Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden do not have a national minimum wage.
Data compiled from the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) show that increments in national minimum wages over the last decade have varied considerably across the EU, with Greece the only Member State recording an effective total decrease in minimum national wage from €877 in 2012 to €774 in January 2022 (down 11.76%).
In contrast, Romania recorded a 218% increase over the past ten years, from €162 in 2012 to €515 in 2022.
In terms of the average increase in minimum wage calculated annually over the last decade (computed by Chronicle.lu), five countries with high minimum wages (more than €1,500 in January 2022) registered less than 2.5% annual rate of increase (on average), while, excluding Greece, Malta and Portugal, ten Member States with a low minimum wage (less than €1,000 in January 2022), have increased their social minimum wages by at least 5% annually, over the last decade.
The colours of the dots on the top of the graph show different groups of social minimum wage, and the sizes show the relative social minimum wage as of January 2022.
Germany, which has a social minimum wage of €1,621 in January 2022, did not report minimum wage in 2012 and hence is not shown above.
Romania and Lithuania reported exceptional 12.27% and 12.16% annual increases on average in their minimum wages in past ten years, respectively.
Luxembourg, the only Member State with minimum wage above €2,000, recorded a 2.28% average annual increase over the decade.
As of 2018, 5.1% of salaried employees in Luxembourg were estimated to earn less than 105% of the social minimum wage, according to Eurostat. In comparison, the highest proportion of salaried employees earning less than 105% of the national minimum wage were reported in Slovenia (15.2%), Bulgaria (14.1%) and Romania (13.3%), and the lowest proportion of salaried employees were found to be in Spain (0.8 %), Belgium (0.9 %) and Malta (1.8 %).
