Minimum Wage by Country

Minimum wage is the minimum amount employers are required to pay their workers according to statutory requirements. This applies to employees and part-time employees, rather than contractors and freelancers.

Minimum wage varies significantly from country to country, as well as sector to sector. Some countries may not even have a minimum wage, using other methods instead to determine salary, like a negotiation process between worker union and employer union.

Employers need to be aware of these differences when handling a global workforce.

Below is a breakdown of the minimum wage per country, divided into:

• Minimum wage of below $500
• Minimum wage between $500 and $1000
• Minimum wage above $1000

This list only contains a portion of the countries we cover. For more information on other countries, we highly recommend visiting our Countrypedia page, which is constantly updated to reflect the latest information on countries’ payroll policies.

Countries with minimum wage below $500 per month

• Albania: $337 per month
• Armenia: $195 per month
• Azerbaijan: $202 per month
• Belarus: $220 per month
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: $336 per month
• Bulgaria: $440 per month
• Cambodia: $200 per month
• China: $335 per month
• Kazakhstan: $131.14 per month
• Macedonia: $312 per month
• Malaysia: $271 per month
• Mongolia: $147.36 per month
• Montenegro: $260 per month
• Myanmar: $91.47 per month
• Pakistan: $103 per month
• Russia: $175 per month
• Serbia: $457 per month
• Thailand: $198 per month
• Turkey: $311 per month
• Ukraine: $227 per month

Countries with minimum wage of $500 – $1000 per month

• Croatia: $775 per month
• Czech Republic: $810 per month
• Estonia: $800 per month
• Greece: $856 per month
• Hungary: $685 per month
• Latvia: $580 per month
• Lithuania: $787 per month
• Macau: $823.5 per month
• Malta: $909.38 per month
• Hong Kong: $918 per month
• Poland: $697 per month
• Portugal: $775 per month
• Romania: $585 per month
• Slovakia: $623 per month
• Taiwan: $857 per month

Countries with minimum wage above $1000 per month

• Australia: $2518 per month
• Austria: $1861 per month
• Belgium: $2142 per month
• Cyprus: $1030 per month, except the first 6 months of employment
• Denmark: $5773 per month
• France: $1875 per month
• Germany: $1963 per month
• Ireland: $1931 per month
• Japan: $1336 per month
• Luxembourg: $2663 per month
• Netherlands: $2127 per month
• New Zealand: $2425 per month
• South Korea: $1482 per month
• Slovenia: $1162 per month
• Spain: $1120 per month

Non-standard minimum wage policies

Finland

Finland doesn’t have a national minimum wage. Employees are covered through collective agreements concerning minimum pay rates.

Georgia

No statutory requirements exist in Georgia regarding minimum wage. Instead, the amount is dependent on a contractual agreement between employer and employee.

India

There is no overarching national minimum wage in India. Rather, minimum income is set by state governments, which make these decisions by using a complex method based on 400 employment categories and thousands of jobs they define for unskilled workers. There is a minimum wage set for each of these jobs.

Indonesia

Minimum wage in Indonesia varies based on local government regulations. Generally, though, it tends to be around $122 per month.

Italy

There is no minimum wage in Italy; minimum wages are generally set according to sector-specific national collective agreements (NCAs). These are legally binding contracts established through collective bargaining between industry-categorized trade unions and the employers’ associations.

Norway

There is no minimum wage in Norway. Minimum wage tends to be determined by employment contracts and sector-collective bargaining agreements.

Philippines

In the Philippines, the national minimum wage is per sector, as follows:

• $6.75 per day for non-agriculture
• $6.73 per day for retail/service organizations employing 11 employees or more
• $6.19 per day for agriculture, cottage & handicraft

Singapore

Instead of minimum wage, Singapore has a scheme called workfare, which is designed to support low-wage workers.

This might change, though; the country recently began setting a minimum wage for specific industries and sectors.

Sweden

Minimum wage in Sweden is determined through a collective bargaining agreement of the employee trade union.

Switzerland

In Geneva, the minimum wage is $4000 per month, while in Zurich it’s determined by collective bargaining agreements.

Stay compliant

Whether it’s India’s thousands of job categories, or the sector-specific contracts used in Italy, keeping track of countries’ minimum wages can be painfully complicated.

But the consequences of not adhering to minimum wage requirements can be even more problematic, including legal penalties, lawsuits, and meaty fines, among other things.

Needless to say, staying compliant is crucial for keeping your company’s growth on track. Papaya OS offers local compliance expertise for over 160 countries, meaning you don’t have to struggle keeping track of all the regulatory changes that may occur with minimum wage. Instead, you can focus on what really matters: strategy and growth. Schedule a demo.