Minimum wage in the world: wage levels in different countries, statistics, reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The minimum wage is the minimum amount of money that an employer pays to a worker in a particular country for a working period of time (hour, day, week, month) established by the relevant legislation of that country. Consider the question of the minimum wage in the world for various countries.

General information

The minimum wage in the world should ideally be sufficient to meet the basic needs of a person in material, social and cultural terms. When it is established, it is also taken into account that the worker has a family and children to whom he must educate. At present, in many countries of the world there are disputes over the size of the minimum wage.

As a rule, the minimum wage in countries around the world is set either hourly or per month in the currency of a given country, for example, an employer is not allowed to pay less than 7.06 dollars per hour in the UK. The amount of this salary varies greatly by country.

Usually every year the government of the countries issues a decree to increaseminimum wage. This is due to the existing inflation around the world, which "eats" the purchasing power of money.

Background

The world's first minimum wage was established in the Australian state of Victoria in 1890 as a result of strikes by workers who demanded an official minimum wage for work performed.

Since that time, various collectives and groups of workers began, following the example of the Australians, to seek the introduction of a minimum wage in their countries. As a result, today, almost all over the world, the legislation of countries regulates this issue.

The idea of establishing an official minimum wage in different countries of the world is that if a person works, then he should receive enough money so that he has enough food, clothing, travel and accommodation for his family, as well as education for their children. The establishment of such a salary, together with the regulation of the length of the working day and the working week, was included in the number of laws of the labor code of the respective country. These measures are designed to improve the lives of working families and strengthen the middle class as an important layer between the poor and the rich.

The positive effect of the minimum wage

There are various economic theories that have considered the impact of the officially established minimum wage in the world by country on the economic development of the respective country. Among the positive effects arethe following:

• Reduce jobs that pay poorly and unfairly and can be seen as exploitative.
• Reducing the dependence of many people on various kinds of benefits and social benefits, which, in turn, creates an opportunity for tax cuts for the population of the country.
• Reducing the number of workers involved in low-skilled manual labor and increasing the efficiency of returns from high-skilled labor.

Negative economic effect

However, there are some negative aspects associated with the introduction of the minimum wage. These include the following:

• increase in the number of unemployed among those who receive the minimum wage;
• average wages are getting lower;
• increase in the number of people who work informally;
• increase in prices for many products and services.

In addition, the number of lawsuits related to various minimum wage issues is increasing.

Australian continent

Australia has the highest minimum wage in the world. So, on July 1, 2016, it is set at 17.70 Australian dollars per hour, which, with a 38-hour week of work, results in 2200 US dollars or 2057 euros per month.

In this country, the way of paying is also different, since each employer in a private company pays wages on Thursdays, and in a state-owned enterprisepay every two weeks. In addition, each worker is en titled to full pay for 6 sick days per year, as well as 4 weeks of paid leave.

In Australia, which ranks first in the ranking of the minimum wage in the world, it is customary to work 40 hours a week, instead of the minimum of 38 hours. In addition to the usual system: 5 working days and 2 days off, the system is also popular in this country: 4 days of 12 day work hours and 4 days off.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an Australian who has two children can only work 6 hours a week to live above the poverty line, as he will receive many other benefits from his government.

European countries

Considering the question of the minimum wage in the world, we must first say about Europe. In this part of the world, the minimum wage varies considerably. Of the 28 countries in the European Union, only 22 have a minimum wage in law. The exceptions are the following countries:

• Austria;
• Cyprus;
• Denmark;
• Finland;
• Italy;
• Sweden.

The largest minimum wage among the EU countries in Luxembourg, it is 1998, 59 euros per month as of 2017. The smallest minimum wage in Bulgaria is only 235.20 euros.

In the economic leader of the European Union - Germany - in 2013, the minimum wage was set at the rate of 8.5 euros per hour of work, in 2017in 2008, this figure was 8.84 euros per hour, which corresponds to 1498 euros per month for a working week of 39.1 hours.

In France for 2017, it is established that the minimum wage for work cannot be less than 9.76 euros per hour, which, with a 35-hour work week, corresponds to 1480.27 euros per month. In the UK, as of April 1, 2017, this amount is set at £7.50 per hour for workers over 25 years old, which corresponds to £1238.25 per month of work at 38.1 hour working weeks.

As for such European countries as Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, the concept of the minimum wage in the world by country does not apply to them, since the state does not regulate this issue in them, but they themselves workers and employers decide what wages are fair to pay for jobs in each sector of the economy.

United States of America

You can not consider the issue of the minimum wage in the world by country and say nothing about the country with one of the most powerful economies in the world - the United States. The legislation of this North American state establishes the following remuneration for work:

• minimum wage;
• salary for extra hours of work;
• pay for work for young people who have a full or part-time job.

Moreover, the legislation applies to both public and private firms.

In 2013, the minimum wage was set at 7.25dollars per hour, but each state has the right to set this figure independently.

The remuneration for additional hours of work should not be less than 1.5 times the regular salary, and is paid only if the person worked more than 40 hours per week.

Africa and Asia

It is in Africa and a number of Asian countries that there are countries with the lowest wages in the world. These countries include Togo, Chad, Gabon, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda, Ghana in Africa and Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia and some others in Asia.

Morocco is the country on the African continent that has the highest minimum wage among African countries, after South Africa. In Morocco, its value was 219.92 euros in 2012.

In Asia, the leader in terms of the minimum wage is Japan. In the Land of the Rising Sun, since October 2016, this value has been set at 932 yen per hour of work. In addition, legislation regulates the issues of additional payment for processing, as well as bonuses for working on public holidays. For 2016, the annual minimum wage for a Japanese was $41,500. However, some cities in Japan pay more than others. For example, you can get more rewards for working in Tokyo, where they pay 9 US dollars per hour.

Russian Federation

Considering the issue of the minimum wage in the world, it should be said that it has been in Russia since 2018equals 9489 rubles per month. Moreover, this figure increased by more than 20% compared to 2017.

However, in addition to the minimum wage, there is also the concept of a living wage, that is, the amount of money that a person needs to meet their basic life needs. In Russia, the living wage for 2017 was 11,163 rubles per month, that is, the minimum wage is much less than the living wage. According to President V. V. Putin, by 2019 it is planned to equalize these two indicators.