Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1447299
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2022 ployment from any benefits. The last budget also envisaged a separate COLA mechanism for low-income earners, which could eventually result in higher, wage increases for low-income earners. But once again Labour is avoiding any taxing commit- ment, which would entail higher wage bills for employers. Malta is falling behind A recent study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions shows that while in 2022 mini- mum wages are expected to increase by 6% across the European Union, the minimum wage will only increase by 1% in Malta. With the exception of Bulgaria and Latvia where no increases are foreseen this year, Malta will register the lowest increase in minimum wag- es in Europe. Moreover in Malta 21% of minimum-wage earners live in materially deprived house- holds, compared to 15% of minimum wage earners in the EU who live in materially de- prived households. Malta is a part of a small group of six coun- tries where rises in the statutory minimum wage, have not kept up with the growth in average wages between 2009 and 2021. The other countries in this group – Belgium, Ger- many, France, Ireland, and Luxembourg – all have a much higher minimum wage than Malta's. Overall statutory minimum wages have in- creased faster than average wages in more than two-thirds of EU countries, which means that in these countries the lowest-paid employees have experienced higher wage growth than the average employee. But other eastern European countries like Slovenia, which has seen a sharp increase in its minimum wage over the past decade, has surpassed Malta's and now has a minimum wage of €1,164 a month. In 2009 Slovenia had a minimum wage of €589 a month, which was lower than Malta's €630. Now its minimum wage is €315 higher than Malta's. Portugal, whose minimum wage in 2009 was €115 lower than Malta's, now has a higher min- imum wage of €823 a month; while Spain's minimum wage is €3336 higher than Malta's. Malta's minimum wage is now just €16 higher than in Greece, a debt-ridden country whose minimum wage was cut in 2012 and subse- quently frozen until 2019. Curiously, despite its relatively low wages, Maltese wages were more likely to follow the pattern of older richer member states than those in Eastern Europe. During the past decade, growth in min- imum wages has been modest among the older member states that have the highest minimum wages: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. On the other hand, there has been remark- able progress among countries that have the lowest rates, which have at least doubled those rates over the period. Luxembourg United Kingdom Ireland Netherlands Belgium Germany France Slovenia Spain Portugal Malta Greece Lithuania Poland Czechia Estonia Slovakia Croatia Hungary Romania Latvia Bulgaria 0 400 800 1,200 1,600 2,000 2,400 2,800 € 2,257 € 1,642 € 1,903 € 1,010 € 1,775 € 1,462 € 1,725 € 1,382 € 1,691 € 1,387 € 1,664 € 1,603 € 1,321 € 1,164 € 589 € 1,126 € 728 € 823 € 525 € 790 € 630 € 774 € 681 € 730 € 232 € 655 € 281 € 652 € 306 € 654 € 278 € 646 € 296 € 624 € 542 € 270 € 515 € 153 € 500 € 254 € 332 € 123 in Euros (€) Now 2009 Minimum wages in 22 EU countries (and UK), which have a statutory minimum wage 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Latvia Slovenia Poland Slovakia Bulgaria Lithuania Portugal Croatia Czechia Hungary Romania Luxembou… UK Netherlands Germany Malta Ireland France Belgium Spain Greece Estonia 8.9% 7.7% 7.4% 6.6% 5.8 4.7% 4.6% 4.1% 4% 3.1% 2.8% 2.2% 1.9% 1.6% 1.1% 1% 1% 0 0 0 0 Increase in minimum wage between 2020 and 2021