Albania remains with the lowest minimum wage in Europe, has no purchasing power

2025-02-05 07:29:00, Ekonomi CNA

The government's successive decisions to increase the minimum wage have again failed to lift Albania out of last place in the European ranking, especially when it comes to its purchasing power. Not even the artificial increase in wages converted into euros has saved it from last place.

Eurostat has published updated data on the minimum wage in Europe for the first half of 2025, where the minimum wage for Albania is 407 euros. As of April 1, 2023, the minimum gross wage in the country increased to 40 thousand lek, but at that time it was worth 376 euros according to Eurostat. The same wage today has exceeded 400 euros, when converted into the common currency, due to the depreciation of the euro in the country, although for wage earners it has remained unchanged.

Even after the revaluation, the minimum wage in Albania remains the lowest in the region. The highest minimum wage is in Montenegro (670 euros) and in Serbia (618 euros). For North Macedonia, Eurostat data is up to the second half of 2021, but national statistics refer to the gross minimum wage as 33.3 thousand denars, or 540 euros. In Bosnia, the minimum wage is 510 euros/month.

Eurostat also publishes the other indicator, that of the minimum wage in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), i.e. after adjusting them for price differences between countries. This is done using the latest available purchasing power parity (PPP) data, the reference year 2023, for household final consumption expenditure. This adjustment reduces the differences between countries, Eurostat explains.

While prices in Albania are among the highest in the region, and many products cost more than in the EU, purchasing power is low, ranking Albania last in Europe (see Eurostat chart, below). The minimum wage in purchasing power is even lower than in North Macedonia, although the latter is based on 2021 data, when the wage was 360 euros.

Salaries in Europe

According to Eurostat, in January 2025, the minimum wage in EU countries ranged from €551 per month in Bulgaria to €2,638 per month in Luxembourg.

As of 1 January 2025, 22 of the 27 EU member states had a national minimum wage. The EU countries that did not have a national minimum wage were Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Sweden. The monthly minimum wage varies significantly between EU countries, from €551 in Bulgaria to €2,638 in Luxembourg.

Among the 10 candidate and potential candidate countries, 7 had a national minimum wage (Montenegro, Moldova, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine), while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Kosovo did not.

Based on the level of the national gross monthly minimum wage in force on 1 January 2025, expressed in euros (€), EU countries can be classified into three different groups, as follows:

-Over €1,500 per month: This group includes Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France. The national minimum wage in these countries ranged from €1,802 in France to €2,638 in Luxembourg.

– From €1,000 to €1,500 per month: This group includes Spain, Slovenia, Poland, Lithuania, Portugal and Cyprus. The national minimum wage ranged from €1,000 in Cyprus to €1,323 in Spain (level in force on 1 July 2024).

– Under €1,000 per month: This group includes Croatia, Greece, Malta, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Latvia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The national minimum wage in these countries ranged from €551 in Bulgaria to €970 in Croatia.

For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States is €1,210 per month.

The average annual growth rate between January 2015 and January 2025 was highest in Romania (+14.1%), followed by Lithuania (+13.2%), Bulgaria (+11.6%) and Poland (+10.3%). The lowest average annual growth rates among EU countries were recorded in France (+2.1%) and Malta (+2.9%).

Note: For countries that do not have the euro as their national currency (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania), as well as for candidate and potential candidate countries (except Montenegro), as well as for the United States, the minimum wage has been converted into euros (€) using the exchange rate in force at the end of December 2024./ Monitor Magazine