Minimum Wages - Data Collection Overview

The WageIndicator Minimum Wages Database includes all minimum wage rates agreed by national governments or wage boards. The information is published on the WageIndicator Minimum Wage pages.

To publish minimum wages on the national WageIndicator websites and on the home page of WageIndicator. To compare minimum wages across countries. To generate a historic database of minimum wages.

The WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database contains the minimum wage rates for the 200+ countries around the world.

77 have one national Minimum Wage rate. Another 71 have between 2 and 100 different Minimum Wages. Thirteen countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, South Africa, Sri Lanka, USA) specify Minimum Wage Rates for more than a hundred different categories of workers.

For India this even amounts up to over 13,000 different Minimum Wages, which are specified by state, regions within states, industries, occupations, and skill levels. 

Minimum wage web pages are available in the national language of the website and in English.

The Database is based on desk research and on information from national correspondents.

2014 - ongoing

When wage boards update their rates

Minimum wage rates published by governments or wage boards. The database started in 2005 for one country, and gradually the number of countries in the database increased.

Over 22,000 rates