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Proposal for a Council recommendation on adequate minimum income
Governments seek to protect low-income households from the risk of poverty by regulating minimum wages and setting up support programmes that include both social insurance and social assistance transfers. At their centre are guaranteed minimum income schemes as last-resort income support. While minimum income schemes exist in all EU Member States, they are not always adequate; they do not reach all those in need, nor do they motivate people to return to the labour market. In many EU countries, the ...
Directive on adequate minimum wages
Wage policy in the EU is a patchwork of different national traditions and legal frameworks. As a result, minimum wage levels diverge considerably, and leave many workers unprotected. While setting minimum wages is the competence of EU Member States, the EU has a supporting and complementary role. In October 2020, the European Commission proposed a directive seeking to improve the adequacy and increase the coverage of minimum wages, while also strengthening collective bargaining as the main instrument ...
Tracking the EU Commissioners’ commitments - Von der Leyen Commission, 2019 - 2024: Nicolas Schmit
This briefing follows up the commitments made by the commissioner since 2019.
Minimum wages directive
Minimum wage protection can be provided through collective agreements, statutory minimum wages set by law, or a combination of both. The European Commission proposed a directive that seeks to promote the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, to help achieve decent working and living conditions for European workers. It is the first time that the Commission has initiated legislative action on minimum wage protection, leaving Member States to define their specific minimum wage levels. The European Parliament ...
Improving the quality of public spending in Europe: Social policy
This study analyses the potential European Union (EU) added value (or untapped cost of non-Europe) in certain areas of social and labour policy: short-time work schemes, anti-poverty and inequality-reduction measures, and minimum wage regulations. The three areas are closely interlinked, and the study shows the potential relevance of EU action in addressing the main existing challenges. The quantitative analysis uses the 'budgetary waste rate' approach to measure the potential efficiency gains in ...
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar: Turning the spotlight on workers’ rights
Enormous natural gas resources have turned Qatar into one of the world's richest countries. The 11 610 km2 nation currently has the fourth highest GDP per capita in the world. The absolute monarchy's estimated 340 000-350 000 citizens benefit from free education, free healthcare, virtually guaranteed – and well paid – employment, and pay almost no taxes. However, the great majority of the emirate’s nearly 3 million inhabitants live in very different conditions. Qatar has the highest ratio of migrants ...
Adequate minimum wages
This briefing finds that the European Commission's impact assessment (IA), which accompanies the directive proposal on adequate minimum wages, is based on sound data and presents a sufficiently broad range of policy options. It would have been useful if the measures concerning collective bargaining and adequacy of minimum wages had been explained more thoroughly in relation to the chosen legal basis. The problem description would have benefited of using more information from the extensive annexes ...
The Proposed Minimum Wage Directive
Following a two-stage consultation of social partners launched in February 2020, on 28 October, the European Commission published its proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union.
Fair minimum wages in the EU - Pre-legislative synthesis of national, regional and local positions on the European Commission's initiative
This briefing forms part of an EPRS series offering syntheses of the pre-legislative state of play and consultation on key European Commission priorities during the current five-year term. It summarises the state of affairs in the relevant policy field, examines how existing policy is working on the ground, and, where possible, identifies best practice and ideas for the future on the part of governmental organisations at all levels of European system of multilevel governance. Based on EPRS analysis ...
Minimum wage in the EU
In 2020, most European Union (EU) Member States have a statutory minimum wage (21 of 27), while six others have wage levels determined though collective bargaining. Expressed in euros, monthly minimum wages vary widely across the EU ranging from €312 in Bulgaria to €2 142 in Luxembourg (July 2020). The disparities are significantly smaller when price level differences are eliminated. Expressed in purchasing power standard, the minimum wage ranges from PPS 547 in Latvia to PPS 1 634 in Luxembourg. ...