Poland's hourly wage among lowest in EU
23:37
According to Eurostat surveys two years ago, 15 percent of workers in the EU were low-paid, earning less than two-thirds of the national average. In Poland, it is slightly over 20 percent. However, as shown by one of the recently published studies, the average hourly wage in Poland significantly differs from the highest in the EU.
The largest percentage of employees with earnings lower than 2/3 of the national average was recorded in 2018 in Latvia (23.5 percent), which in this respect is ahead of the other three Baltic countries: Lithuania (22.3 percent) and Estonia (22 percent). Poland is in fourth place. 21.9 percent of employees in our country earned much less than the national average, which, according to GUS data, in 2018 amounted to PLN 4,585.03.
Two years ago, the lowest earners significantly below the average were in Sweden (3.6 percent). Portugal (4 percent) and Finland (5 percent) were also in the lead. Other countries where this percentage was also below 10 percent were Italy (8.5 percent), France (8.6 percent), and Denmark (8.7 percent).
It is also worth looking at the average hourly wage in individual EU countries. According to Eurostat statistics, Denmark is the leader in this respect. Two years ago, the workers there earned an average of €27.2 per hour. In this respect, the situation was also good in Luxembourg, where the average hourly wage was €19.6, Sweden (€18.2), Belgium and Ireland (€18 each), Finland (€17.5) and Germany (€17.2) also boasted high results.
The lowest average hourly wage was in 2018 in Bulgaria (€2.4), Romania (€3.7), Hungary, and Lithuania (€4.4 each). The average wage per hour worked was also low in Latvia (€4.9), Poland (€5), Croatia and Portugal (€5.4 each), and Slovakia (€5.6).
The difference between the highest and the lowest average hourly wages in the EU is huge. As noted, the rate in Denmark is more than 11 times higher than in Bulgaria, which is in the last place in the ranking.
