European Parliament Adopts Bill on Minimum Wages in EU

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Parliament has adopted new rules on Wednesday, introducing unified requirements for minimum wages in the bloc, a press release of the EU Parliament said.

"Setting a minimum wage remains a national competence but member states will have to guarantee that their national minimum wages allow workers to lead a decent life, taking into account the cost of living and wider pay levels," the message read.

The EU states could assess the adequacy of a minimum wage based on a basket of goods and services at real prices, or set it at 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage, according to the rules.

The rules will apply to people in the EU countries who have an employment contract or employment relationship.

The bill will also oblige the EU states to establish an enforcement system, which includes monitoring to ensure that rules are implemented and the problem of "abusive sub-contracting, bogus self-employment, non-recorded overtime or increased work intensity" is addressed.

At the same time, the EU is not planning to set a unified minimum wage across the bloc, where it strongly varies state by state. 

The initial legislation on minimum wage was introduced by the European Commission in October 2020, which noted back than that some 10% of EU workers lived in poverty.