The minimum wage in selected countries of the European Union

Abstract

The minimum basic wage is comparable in most countries in the European Union. It is connected with the unification of the fact that this instrument is of great importance for the effective conduct of social policy. This article introduces the idea of the minimum wage. The essential part is the static analysis of the collected data and, on their basis, demonstrating how the structure of minimum wages in selected European Union countries is shaped. The established levels of remuneration were compared to each other, relative to the European Union, as well as to the experts' recommendations referring to the formation of the minimum wage. The example of Poland showed how fast the wages were raised. At the same time, this increase did not affect Poland's situation on the labor market negatively which proofed the effectiveness of this instrument. The article contains an analysis of dynamic data over the years 2002-2017.