Minimum wages are nothing but the lowest monthly, daily or hourly wage being paid to workers or employees by the employers legally. In other words, it is the lowest rate at which the workers can sell their labor. In the continent of Europe, the regulation of minimum wages differs from one country to another. Among the different countries in Europe, Germany follows statutory minimum rates in the sectors like postal, janitorial and construction. The countries like Sweden, Italy, Finland and Denmark have the least possible wage rate set through joint agreement covering a great percentage of the working population.
The European countries take into consideration different factors like general health of the economy, rates of unemployment, economic growth, inflation rate, budget of the companies, productivity, level of collective bargaining, etc… while determining the pay setting. In many countries like Belgium, some form of index linking system is being followed to make sure that the pay rate to workers is not overtaken by inflation.
As said earlier, level of collective bargaining is one of the key factors used for determining the minimum wages. In most of the European countries, sector-level bargaining is being followed, while in the UK, company level bargaining is being followed.
According to experts in the field of wage rate determination, in many European countries the minimum wage rate has increased considerably and this has brought about a considerable increase in the productivity as well. On the other hand, moderation has brought about pay rise in the recent years in some countries, which are aiming at achieving the macroeconomic convergence criteria for the purpose of joining the monetary union and European economic. Some countries like Portugal, Germany, Spain and Belgium are exercising pay moderation recently for the purpose of remaining competitive. The table given below will give you the list of minimum wages in some of the European countries for the year 2009/10.
| Country | Minimum Hourly Rate (EUR) | Minimum Wage Per Month (EUR) |
| The United Kingdom | 6.45 | 1117.87 |
| Ireland | 8.65 | 1499.33 |
| France | 8.86 | 1343.77 |
| Spain | 3.65 | 633.30 |
| Austria | 5.77 | 1000.00 |
| Belgium | 8.31 | 1440.67 |
The minimum wage had been generating significant amount of debate as far as the level, up-gradation and settings are concerned. Recently, the countries like Germany and France had the most prominent debate in the minimum wage issue. The National Minimum wage system has been followed by France for the past several decades and this has enabled the country to embed the same in the wage formation system. But, in the recent years the subject of minimum wages has become an issue and this has forced the government to increase the hourly minimum wage rapidly for the purpose of maintaining the monthly level of minimum wages. In France, the employers are demanding that the minimum wage rate is high, while the trade unions are showing their disapproval to the government stating that they are not awarded with additional discretionary increase.
Therefore, the minimum wage rate has considerably increased in almost all the European countries and the present trend show that there will further be an increase in the minimum wages. Therefore, not only workers from European countries, but also from other countries can be rest assured that they will be paid well in European countries.
