Economic Growth

What is the minimum wage around the world?

Libby Kane
Personal Finance Editor, Business Insider

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international policy group that monitors and analyzes 34 countries, recently tweeted the following chart:

150508-chart-oecd-minimum-wage-big

OECD

It illustrates the after-tax value of the hourly minimum wage, in US dollars, in the OECD countries that have instituted one.

Australia and Luxembourg lead the group with wages over $9 an hour each, and Latvia and Mexico are at the bottom with wages under $2.

The US, where the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, or $6.26 after taxes, ranks 11th.

Broken down by state, however, there is some variation among the 45 states that require a minimum wage, ranging from $9.05 per hour in Washington, DC, to $5.15 an hour in Georgia and Wyoming. The Guardian reported that 21 states raised the minimum wage in 2015, and multiple states have begun the process of raising their minimum wages to $10.10 an hour.

Business Insider’s Myles Udland reported that the US government currently spends $152.8 billion a year supporting working families who are paid so little that they’re still in need of assistance.

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Author: Libby Kane is the personal finance editor at Business Insider.

Image: A customer withdraws 500 Estonian kroon ($40) from an ATM in Tallinn July 13, 2010. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of Work

Related topics:
Economic GrowthJobs and the Future of Work
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

How 'green education' could speed up the net-zero transition

Sonia Ben Jaafar

November 22, 2024

What is the gig economy and what's the deal for gig workers?

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum