Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on adequate minimum wages for EU workers.

A controversial proposal from the European Commission setting minimum wage standards for all EU countries is likely to continue hitting the headlines for years to come.

What some see as a tool to reduce wage inequality and in-work poverty, others see as too

big an interference from Brussels.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

The question of setting a minimum wage is certainly one of the most analyzed and debated

topics in economics, but has gained momentum in the context of the economic and social crisis that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.

Realising that many frontline workers, such as nurses, carers, cleaners, waiters and agricultural workers earn the minimum wage has revamped the idea of a European minimum wage as a way to ensure fair wages and social inclusion

and to help sustain domestic demand as our economy shrink.

But the idea is not a new one. In 2017, EU institutions jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights,

setting out the EU's commitment to fair wages for all workers.

Since then, the European Commission has shown its willingness to address this issue.

But what is the situation regarding wages in Europe and how are they set?

Let's have a look at that first.

Expressed in euros, monthly minimum wages vary widely across the EU, ranging from

312 euros in Bulgaria to 21142 in Luxembourg in July

2020. This means that the highest minimum wage is almost seven times that of the lowest.

However, the difference gets smaller when we factor in the cost of life in the different

countries. So when considered in terms of purchasing power

standards, the highest minimum wage in the EU was only three times higher than the lowest. But who

sets wages in the EU? Well, this is a direct competence of member states, but there's different ways

to do it. Of the EU's 27 countries, six have wages set in collective bargaining between employers and trade

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