The purchasing power of the minimum wage in Poland is higher than the minimum wage in the United States. This means that a Pole earning the lowest possible wage can buy more than a US resident can afford for his minimum wage. Data on minimum wages in 2022 were provided by Eurostat.
The amount of the minimum permitted remuneration for work is regulated in 21 out of 27 European Union countries. The exceptions are Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Italy, where there is no lower salary limit. Poland was in the middle of the scale on the level of purchasing power with the lowest national salary in the given countries.
In the ranking of the EU statistical office, Poland was placed ninth before Lithuania (10th) and after Spain (8th). Among the countries that joined the EU equally with Poland or after Poland, only Slovenia has a higher purchasing power parity. Luxembourg workers will buy the most for their minimum wage. Followed by Germany and the Netherlands.
According to Eurostat, in January 2022, 13 EU Member States had minimum wages below 1,000. euro per month. According to data from January, these were Bulgaria (EUR 332), Latvia (EUR 500), Romania (EUR 515), Hungary (EUR 542, Croatia (EUR 624), Slovakia (EUR 646), Czech Republic (EUR 652), Estonia (EUR 654), Lithuania (EUR 730), Greece (EUR 774), Malta (EUR 792) and Portugal (EUR 823). This group also includes Poland, where the minimum wage is PLN 3,010 gross per month, or about EUR 655 at the exchange rate from January.
By comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was the equivalent of around € 1,100 in January 2022. However, its purchasing power was much lower than its face value. This is because when calculating purchasing power parity is calculated with the price level in a given country. Hence, while the Americans earn in nominal terms almost twice as much as Poles with the lowest national salary, the prices in their country are so high that the purchasing power of the Polish minimum wage is larger.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński order