National Minimum Wage

National Minimum Wage
Table A3.1: Comparison of Adult Minimum Wages, by Country, 2011
174
In national
currency
expressed as
hourly rate a
In UK £, using: Date
Exchange
rates b
PPPs c
of last
uprating
% Increase in
national currency
from 2010-2011
Age full
minimum wage
usually applies d
Australia e AU$15.51 10.05 7.73 Jul-11 3.4 21
Belgium €8.17 7.12 6.98 Sep-10 0.0 21
Canada f C$9.80 6.20 5.90 - g 7.0 16
France €9.19 8.01 7.86 Dec-11 3.7 18
Greece h €4.20 3.66 4.16 Jul-11 1.7 25
Ireland €8.65 7.54 6.86 Jul-11 i 0.0 20
Japan j JPY737 6.08 4.83 Oct-11 1.0 15/18 k
Netherlands €8.28 l 7.22 7.37 Jul-11 1.3 23
New Zealand NZ$13.00 6.69 6.31 Apr-11 2.0 16
Portugal m €2.80 2.44 2.87 Jan-11 2.2 16
Spain m €3.70 3.23 3.62 Jan-11 1.4 16
United Kingdom £6.08 6.08 6.08 Oct-11 2.5 21
United States US$7.25 n 4.59 5.67 Jul-09 0.0 20
Source: British Embassies and High Commissions. Low Pay Commission (LPC) calculations of country minimum wage rates in pounds sterling
using exchange rates and PPPs. PPPs derived from Comparative Price Levels (CPLs), OECD Main Economic Indicators, September 2011. Exchange
rates, Bank of England monthly average spot exchange rate, September 2011.
Notes:
a. For countries where the minimum wage is not expressed as an hourly rate, the rate has been converted to an hourly basis assuming a
working time of 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week and 173.3 hours per month.
b. September 2011.
c. PPPs derived by applying OECD CPLs – ratio of PPPs for private consumption to exchange rates – for September 2011.
d. Exemptions and special rules apply in many cases. For example, in France and the United States the full adult rate applies to young workers
with a tenure of more than six and more than three months respectively.
e. The Australian Federal National Minimum Wage Order, effective from first pay period after 1 July 2011.
f. Weighted average of provincial/territorial rates.
g. Date of last uprating varies between provinces.
h. For blue collar workers.
i. The hourly minimum rate was reduced from €8.65 to €7.65 for adult workers on 1 February 2011. That reduction was reversed and the
hourly rate went back up to €8.65 on 1 July 2011.
j. Weighted average of prefectural rates.
k. Age 15 to receive the regional minimum wage. Age 18 to receive the sectoral minimum wage.
l. Excludes 8 per cent supplement for holiday pay.
m. Not including annual supplementary pay of two additional months of salary for full-time workers.
n. Federal minimum wage. Tipped employees receive a lower minimum wage of $2.13 per hour in direct wages.
6 Table A3.2 shows that in mid-2010 the NMW was also middle-ranking when the value of
each country’s minimum wage is compared to full-time median earnings (the bite). It was in
the 45 to 50 per cent range alongside Canada, above countries such as the United States,
Spain and Japan, but well below those with the highest bite, New Zealand and France. As the
bites are compared with full-time median earnings (as only full-time earnings data are
available internationally) the UK number differs from the bite discussed in Chapter 2, which is
compared with all earnings (i.e. including part-time earnings).