Economic Growth

This is what the minimum wage looks like around the world

Paul Muggeridge
Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

Supporting low-wage earners is one of the keys to promoting inclusive growth, and minimum wages are a common if sometimes controversial way of doing it.

Of the 34 countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 26 have a minimum wage – 9 of which have been introduced since 1990.

But the rate varies dramatically, as shown in this chart looking at the rates in US dollars per hour after taxes, at purchasing power parity (which takes exchange rate anomalies into account).

150630-minimum wage forum chart

The figures – taken from a recent OECD report – show that Australia and Luxembourg come out on top with minimum wages of more than $9 an hour, while Latvia and Mexico trail on less than $2 an hour.

However the ranking would look quite different if each country’s minimum wage was compared to its median wage. In that case Turkey would be top, with its minimum standing at a little under 70% of the median. The United States would be near the bottom, at just 37% – marginally ahead of Mexico and the Czech Republic.

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

Author: Paul Muggeridge is Head of Content at Formative Content.

Image: Workers on an assembly line in Winnsboro, South Carolina. REUTERS/Chris Keane

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:

Economic Progress

Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Economic Progress 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