Romania gains one position in EU minimum wage ranking

Romania gained one position in the ranking of the minimum wages across the European Union in January 2018. If up to now, Romania had the second lowest minimum wage in the EU, the increase of the gross minimum wage to RON 1,900 (EUR 408) starting this year helped the country gain one spot.

According to Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU, Bulgaria had the smallest minimum wage of EUR 261, followed by Lithuania with EUR 400.

Statistics show that the monthly minimum wages generally below EUR 500 are in the east and well above EUR 1 000 in northwest of the EU.

For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was EUR 1,048 per month in January 2018.

Eurostat points out that across 22 member stages, the highest minimum wage in the EU was almost 8 times higher than the lowest.

“However, the disparities in minimum wages across the EU Member States are considerably smaller once price level differences are eliminated: minimum wages in Member States with lower price levels become relatively higher when expressed in purchasing power standard (PPS), and relatively lower in Member States with higher price levels. By eliminating price differences, minimum wages ranged from 546 PPS per month in Bulgaria to 1 597 PPS in Luxembourg, meaning that the highest minimum wage was almost 3 times higher than the lowest,” said Eurostat.