As previously reported, EU ministers approved the directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union on 4 October 2022, to guarantee decent living standards for workers.

Between January 2022 and January 2023, the report shows that Member States increased legal gross minimum wages, ranging from more than 20 percent in Germany and Latvia to more than 5 percent in Luxembourg.

However, due to unprecedented inflation in 2022, purchasing power of minimum wage earners did improve in all Member States. Provided that statutory minimum wages do not change in parallel to inflation, purchasing power in 2023 can deteriorate if inflation persists.

The transposition phase of the EU directive has only just begun. However, the “indicative reference values” set by the directive are gradually being adopted in laws or targets (Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Slovakia, Spain), used for actual increases (Croatia, Germany) or used for union demands (Czechia, Greece, Netherlands). The report underlines the most substantial change in minimum wage regulations being the introduction of a monthly statutory minimum wage in Cyprus.