Question 1

What is a Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW)?

Accepted Answer

Statutory Minimum Wage rates are specified by the issuing authorities, be it the national government or any institution entitled to issue such rates, like the Department of Labour, Wage Boards, regional authorities, or municipalities. In most countries, the Statutory Minimum Wage rates are adjusted periodically to keep pace with inflation, cost of living, and other factors. The decisions of these authorities are mostly published in Notifications.A National Minimum Wage can be either a national minimum wage set uniformly across the country, or rates for regions jointly covering the entire country, or for industries jointly covering the entire economy of the country, indicating that the wage issuer aims to cover all those in wage employment.

Question 2

Does a worldwide minimum wage database exist?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database registers the minimum wages applicable in more than 200 countries. WageIndicator is a global, independent, non-profit organization that collects worldwide the rates of the Statutory Minimum Wage. Its database registers all minimum wage rates valid in 209 countries, of which all 193 United Nations members and an additional 16 countries or dependent territories.[1] Among these 209 countries are 13 countries without a Statutory Minimum Wage. These are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Nauru, North Korea, Norway, Somalia, South Sudan, Sweden, Tonga, Tuvalu. The database does not include wages agreed in Collective Labour Agreements as only minimum wages are included that have the force of law.[1] Aruba, Bermuda, Bonaire/Sint Eustatius/Saba, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Curaçao, Gibraltar, Greenland, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Macao, Palestinian Territories, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten (Dutch Part), Taiwan, Wallis and Futuna

Question 3

How are minimum wages described?

Accepted Answer

The issuing authorities mostly provide Notifications with information about the valid minimum wages, or they publish them in the Gazette. Minimum wages are described such as National Minimum Wage, but may equally refer to industries, job titles, or geographical areas. The descriptions may range from very detailed to very broad; in India, for example, from Foundries with or without attached machine shops to Any manufacturing. Descriptions may refer to a geographical entity, e.g. in China to the cities Guolon, Haixi, Yushu in the province of Qinghai. Descriptions can refer to job titles, e.g. Sales Clerk or Watchman. In the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, each record in the database has a unique ID and a description exactly copied from the Notifications, and where required, translated into English.

Question 4

Does WageIndicator register sub-minimum rates?

Accepted Answer

WageIndicator registers sub-minimum rates, defined as rates targeting youth, trainees, apprentices, tipped workers, disabled workers, part-time workers, live-in domestic workers, workers not covered by the USA Fair Labour Standards Act, piece-rate workers or workers whose employers provide food or housing. These rates are included in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database and are registered as sub-minimum rates. Minimum wage rates that relate the rates to the volume of the work to be performed are registered as piece rates.

Question 5

How many countries are in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database?

Accepted Answer

The database registers all minimum wage rates valid in 209 countries, comprising all 193 United Nations members, plus an additional 16 countries or dependent territories. Among these 207 countries are 13 countries without a Statutory Minimum Wage. Altogether, the database includes over 22,000 valid rates. In the database, 93 countries have specified a single minimum wage, 62 countries have specified between two and 10 records, and 22 countries have specified between 11 and 100. Nine countries have specified between 100 and 1,000 rates, and three countries have specified more than 1,000 rates. India has by far the most minimum rates specified, notably more than 13,000. Since January 2014, each month the rates valid in that month have been registered in the database, allowing to capture changes over time.

Question 6

Why does WageIndicator collect data about minimum wage rates?

Accepted Answer

The main reason for collecting minimum wage rates in the Minimum Wage Database is to publish adequate information on the WageIndicator minimum wage web pages. These pages are in the national language and in English. They aim to provide the audience worldwide with information about minimum wages. They also aim to fill a gap in information not provided by national Labour Ministries or Wage Boards, whose dissemination capacities are typically not that well developed. It also provides information to non-native speakers about the minimum wages in other countries.

Question 7

What is the history of the Minimum Wage database?

Accepted Answer

In 2000, WageIndicator started its first website with information on work and wages, soon followed by other countries (https://wageindicator.org/). In 2005, WageIndicator launched a website in India (https://paycheck.in/). Soon, the Indian team received questions from web visitors asking about the applicable minimum wage. The team collected minimum wage rates by contacting each state’s Labour Department for their official Notifications, and these rates were published online. By 2015, the website had become the leading one in India in this regard. It currently features all Indian minimum wages, totalling more than 13,000 different rates. These are broken down per sector, job title, skill level or other characteristics, and updated regularly. See for more information: Varkkey, B., and K. P. Mehta. 2015. “The Minimum Wage Checker of WageIndicator: a note”, in P. Osse. ed. WageIndicator 15 Years. Amsterdam: WageIndicator FoundationWageIndicator teams from other countries reported similar experiences and took similar action. South Africa also has complex minimum wages, and from 2010 onwards, the WageIndicator website in South Africa posted minimum wage rates (www.mywage.co.za). Similarly, the minimum wage pages in Indonesia made the website popular with the general public (www.gajimu.com). The difficulties in tracing minimum wage information may arise from the background that Labour Ministries or Wage Boards are designed for decision-making, while their dissemination capacities are typically not that well developed.In the 2000s and 2010s, WageIndicator published Minimum Wages on its national webpages by entering the rates directly into the websites’ Content Management System. The desire to manage the data increased as more countries participated, and the need grew to harmonise the webpages and to keep track of updates. A spreadsheet, called MW_APP., was designed in which all rates of all countries were included in one tab, while software was applied to feed these rates directly into the national minimum wage webpages. In January 2019, this spreadsheet and the database software became operational. If rates were uprated, the outdated amount was replaced with the new one. To keep track of the rates over time, a monthly data dump, a time series of minimum wages, was stored in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database (MWDB). The dump is produced on the first day of each month and includes all records effective on the last day of the previous month. In Spring 2025, WageIndicator moved from using Excel spreadsheets and instead started to use a database-driven system called MW_TOOL.To populate the database for the period from January 2014 to December 2018, information was collected from the archived WageIndicator websites and, if missing, from online sources. For six countries, the time series could not be completed for the years 2014-18, while for another nine countries, that was the case for 2014-15.The content of the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database is available on request, see for details Minimum Wages Historic Data - Data Collection Overview. A codebook is freely downloadable: Tijdens K.G., Amanquarnor N., Ahmad I. (2024) Minimum Wage Database Codebook and explanatory note. Amsterdam, WageIndicator Foundation

Question 8

What is the primary unit in the Minimum Wage database?

Accepted Answer

Each record in MWDB identifies one minimum wage. The record includes a description exactly copied from the Notifications provided by the issuing authority. Descriptions can be texts such as National Minimum Wage, but may equally refer to industries, job titles, or geographical areas. They may range from very detailed to very broad, in India, for example, from Foundries with or without attached machine shops to any manufacturing. Descriptions may refer to a geographical entity, e.g. to the cities Guolon, Haixi, Yushu in the province of Qinghai in China, or they refer to job titles, such as Plumber in sanitary facilities in the Free Trade Zone of the Northern Border in Mexico.Each record has a unique ID, called mw_code, that can have 11 to 13 digits. MW_CODE consists of country (1-3 digits), region (2 digits), an indicator whether the minimum wage has a breakdown by sector, occupation or region (3 digits), reserve (2 digits) and a follow-up number per country or, in the case of India, per state (4 digits). Example: Code = 84001001000012, Description = Arkansas, Tipped workers. In this code, 840 is the country code for the USA, 01 is a follow-up code for the region (=state) within the USA, 001 specifies that the breakdown of the MW category is by region, 00 is for reserve, and 0012 is a follow-up number for the USA MWs.

Question 9

Who is in the WageIndicator team?

Accepted Answer

The Minimum Wage team is headed by Iftikhar Ahmad, Global Lead – Labour Law at the WageIndicator, heading the Labour Law and Minimum Wage desk and from the Centre for Labour Research in Islamabad, Pakistan. Kea Tijdens contributed to the systems design of WageIndicator’s Minimum Wage app and the Historic database. Kim Chee Leong developed the necessary software. Nii Ashia Amanquarnor contributes as the data analyst and contributed to the design and maintenance of the Minimum Wage Database. Shailja Tripathi is responsible for the data collection in India. Worldwide, WageIndicator team members report minimum wage updates in their respective countries.

Question 10

Which countries don’t have a Statutory Minimum Wage?

Accepted Answer

In 2025, 13 of the 207 countries in MWDB have no statutory minimum wage: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Nauru, North Korea, Norway, Somalia, South Sudan, Sweden, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Some of these countries are or were located in war zones and may therefore lack a minimum wage. In other countries, such as the five Scandinavian countries mentioned above, a high level of trade union density has been decisive in abstaining from a statutory minimum wage. Austria is classified as having a minimum wage, because in that country, the lowest wages agreed in collective bargaining agreements are set as the statutory minimum wage. In 2015, Germany introduced a Statutory Minimum Wage.

Question 11

How many data points does the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database have?

Accepted Answer

The database registers the minimum wage rate valid on the last day of the month. Each month, these rates are registered. The database has time series from January 2014, with 12 datapoints per year for each of the more than 22,000 different Minimum Wage rates. By July 1, 2025, the database had almost 4 million datapoints.

Question 12

How does WageIndicator deal with exits and entries in the database?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, Governments or Wage Boards specify a Minimum Wage for categories that were not defined before. For example, in the 2010s, a growing number of cities and counties in the USA decided to lift the local minimum wage rate above the federal rate, thus generating new entries in the database. In 2015, Germany introduced a minimum wage rate, whereas that country had none before. Governments or Wage Boards can decide to break up one minimum wage into two or more categories. Around 2020, the Mexican government decided to have separate rates for the country’s free trade zones, so the number of rates doubled. Similarly, Governments or Wage Boards can decide to delete categories or merge separate categories into one category. A few countries decided to gradually get rid of their detailed youth wages per age group, e.g., the Netherlands and Belgium. Since 2014, many new rates entered MWDB while only a few exited.In case of an entry in the database, a new record is inserted in the database, and a unique code is assigned. In the monthly MWDB data dump, the new record is included, and the amount is inserted from the month it became valid, and all amounts in the months before the start date are assigned a missing value. In case of exits in the database, the record remains in the database, but it is set to publish=0, which means that it is no longer shown on the web page. In the database, these records are set as a missing value from the month of the exit onwards.

Question 13

Are basic rates included in the database?

Accepted Answer

No, the database includes only the total rates. The minimum wage web pages, however, show specific basic rates, one or more additional allowances, and total rates, if the Wage Board has issued these. For example, in India, a VDA amount needs to be added, whereby VDA stands for Variable Dearness Allowance and indicates an increase/decrease according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Question 14

Which currencies are used in the database?

Accepted Answer

All minimum wage rates are expressed in the local currency unit (LCU), as specified by the Governments or Wage Boards. In the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, currencies are identified with their ISO abbreviation, whereby each country has one currency. As Hong Kong and China have different currencies, they are considered as being two different countries.In case a country changes its currency, all its minimum wage rates since 2014 are adapted to the most recent denomination. If so, the currency abbreviation is replaced with the new one. Among others, Venezuela and Zambia have changed their currency since 2014.For cross-country comparisons, the user needs to convert the monthly rates into the standardized International Dollar (Int$), using the World Bank's Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) indexes for private consumption.

Question 15

Does WageIndicator identify the pay periods of the minimum wage rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for each minimum wage rate, the WageIndicator web pages register one or multiple pay periods as specified in the Notifications. These periods range from hours to years. In the USA, all minimum rates are defined per hour, whereas in Russia, all rates are defined per month. China specifies monthly rates for full-time workers and hourly rates for part-time workers. The majority of countries define one pay period per minimum wage, mostly a monthly wage. Other countries specify minimum wage rates per hour, per day, per week, or even per year. A few countries specify different pay periods for different minimum wages. In India, for example, the rates of low-skilled workers are typically defined per day and those of high-skilled managers per month. In the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, all rates are calculated into a monthly and an hourly amount, using the WageIndicator standard working hours table, see Working Hours and Leave Regulations - Data Collection Overview.

Question 16

Does WageIndicator specify standard days per month?

Accepted Answer

Countries with monthly minimum wage rates typically apply standard days per month; thus, the rates are equal whether a month has 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Serbia is an exception by specifying the rates depending on the number of working hours in the month at stake -- resulting in a higher monthly minimum wage in January compared to February. Four countries specify different rates for different lengths of the working week. Cuba specifies rates for weeks of 40 and 44 hours, Aruba for weeks of 40, 42, 44 and 45 hours, Tunisia for weeks of 40 and 48 hours, and Israel for 5 and 6 days per week. Two countries, the Netherlands and Malaysia, specified similar monthly rates for different lengths of the working week. Malaysia still does, but in January 2024, the Netherlands abandoned this rule.

Question 17

How is the Minimum Wage Database updated?

Accepted Answer

Tracing updates of minimum wage for more than 200 countries is a challenging task. WageIndicator applies four methods. First, the team at the WageIndicator Labour Law and Minimum Wages desk/Centre for Labour Research is checking relevant websites of the Ministries of Labour and Wage Boards worldwide and wherever possible, this team has subscribed to notifications of these websites. Second, the work is supported with a table that specifies the most likely updating month, based on updating practices in previous years. Third, the team receives messages regarding updates from WageIndicator team members as well as from web visitors. Fourth, each quarter, WageIndicator asks the members of its network of Living Wage Data collectors if they have noticed any minimum wage updates, either planned or already implemented.

Question 18

How well does WageIndicator keep track of updates?

Accepted Answer

To explore how well WageIndicator performs regarding its minimum wage updating policy, the updating dates in the minimum wage rates on the web pages can be compared with the dates of the WageIndicator minimum wage news messages, see Minimum Wages News. If an update is published in the News only six months after the start date of the new rates, the updates in the MW pages are a bit late. On this basis, the publishing dates of the updates from 1/1/2023 – 31/5/2023 and from 1/1/2025 – 31/5/2025 were explored. In these two periods, 139 news messages were published in the 2023 period and 131 in the 2025 period. Most messages originate from Argentina (18), Canada (21), China (22), India (54), and the USA (59). All other countries had less than 10 news messages in these two periods jointly. In both the 2023 and the 2025 periods, 83% of the new rates were published as News messages in the same month, while another 10% were published one month after the update. In some cases, the delay could have been caused by the late notification of minimum wage by the MW Board and the applicability of minimum wages from a past date, even months. The remaining 7% of the new updates were published as news between 2 and 12 months after the update.

Question 19

Which quality controls does WageIndicator apply?

Accepted Answer

WageIndicator applies several quality controls when the minimum wage rates are entered into its system. First, the software checks if the entered rate has a numerical format and does not contain commas or dots other than for decimals. Second, the software checks if the newly entered amount is not lower than the previous amount. If so, an error message pops up to prompt the data entry operator for an extra check. If much higher, an error message pops up when the new rate is more than 5 times higher than the previous rate. Third, to identify outliers in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, in May 2022, PPP-adjusted USD equivalents of the hourly rates have been calculated for all months between 2014 and May 2022. Values below 0.1 USD and above 25 USD have been closely examined to determine whether these were indeed outliers. If so, the amounts were compared to the original notifications and repaired. This was a once-only check on outliers.

Question 20

Does WageIndicator register the start dates of the SMW?

Accepted Answer

Yes, each minimum wage rate has a start date, which is the date that the rate became effective. If the start date is unknown, which mostly indicates that the minimum wage rate has been updated for many years, it is assigned 1/1/2000. For the monthly time series in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, the start date indicates in which month the new rates became valid.

Question 21

Does WageIndicator register piece rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes, descriptions relating the wage to the volume of the work to be performed are registered, including a description of the volume of work, e.g. Loading and unloading worker per bag. In the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database, these rates are classified as piece rates and therefore no hourly or monthly rates are calculated. Four countries specify rates for piece rate workers, namely Ecuador, India, Sri Lanka, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Question 22

Does WageIndicator register gross and net rates?

Accepted Answer

Personal income taxation affects take-home wages. Gross wages can significantly deviate from net wages. The vast majority of countries in the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database solely set a net minimum wage; only 30 countries set a gross minimum wage. Turkey and North Macedonia set both gross and net rates, but the database includes the net wages only. The countries with gross minimum wages are either OECD or EU member countries, as well as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands. Due to the complexities of national tax regulations, WageIndicator is not able to convert gross into net minimum wages. The WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database includes a variable indicating whether the rate is a gross or a net minimum amount.

Question 23

Does WageIndicator register required allowances?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in its web pages, WageIndicator indicates if the total minimum wage rate includes allowances, e.g. in India, the Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA). The WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database only includes the total rate.

Question 24

Does WageIndicator register in-kind bonuses?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on its web pages, WageIndicator indicates if the employer should pay in-kind bonuses in addition to the minimum wage rate. In most cases, this concerns the provision of meals or food, accommodation or other non-monetary allowances. The WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database does not include these in-kind bonuses.

Question 25

Does WageIndicator register the regional dimension of minimum wage rates?

Accepted Answer

The regional dimension of minimum wage rates is captured in the description of the rate, e.g., the minimum wage in Canada for Newfoundland and Labrador. The WageIndicator web pages indicate these regional dimensions. The WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database details the regions, using its standard classification used in its Regions Database, see Regions - Data Collection Overview, where relevant breaking provinces/states further down in cities.

Question 26

Does WageIndicator register if a minimum wage applies to domestic workers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers if a minimum wage rate applies to domestic workers. In case the minimum wage description includes phrases as domestic work, home assistant, domestic helper, live-in domestic worker, housemaid, support and caretaker, or just household work. Moreover, the WageIndicator Minimum Wage Database registers if domestic workers are explicitly excluded in the Wage Board’s Notifications.

Question 27

Does WageIndicator register if a minimum wage applies to agricultural workers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers if a minimum wage rate applies to agricultural workers, if relevant. In case the minimum wage description includes phrases as harvesting, weeding, grass cutting, agriculture, livestock, forestry, harvesting of coffee, or farm worker or alike.

Question 28

Does WageIndicator register if a minimum wage applies to workers in EPZ?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers if a minimum wage rate applies to workers in processing zones, if relevant. In case the minimum wage description includes Economic Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Maquiladoras, Toll Tax Barriers, Freight transport in free zones or alike.

Question 29

Does WageIndicator register if a minimum wage applies to unskilled workers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in two ways, WageIndicator registers if a minimum wage rate applies to unskilled workers, if relevant. First, in case the minimum wage description explicitly includes the word ‘unskilled’. Second, if the description refers to a job role, that is, according to the standard international occupational classification ISCO-08, an unskilled occupation.

Question 30

Does WageIndicator register if a minimum wage relates to the size of a company?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers if a minimum wage rate applies to the size of a company, if relevant. In case the description refers to the number of employees in the company. This can be ‘Oil Mills for less than 10 employees’, a size category such as ‘Small companies’, or a company’s turnover, such as ‘Employers with annual gross volume of sales of USD 500,000 or more’.

Question 31

Does WageIndicator classify the industry of the minimum wage rate?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers industries of the minimum wage rates, if relevant. In case the description refers to an industry, this economic sector is coded according to the NACE_Rev industry classification system. If the industry description refers to a very detailed sector, it is classified at the most disaggregated level of the classification. If the industry description refers to a very broad category, e.g. public sector, the rate is classified at the most aggregated level of the classification.

Question 32

Does WageIndicator classify job roles or occupations of the minimum wage rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers job roles or occupations of the minimum wage rates, if relevant. In case the description refers to one or more job roles or occupations, the rate is coded according to the standard international occupational classification ISCO-08. As much as possible, the descriptions are coded at the most disaggregated level of the classification, the so-called 4-digit level. If the description refers to a range of occupations, the lowest skill level is leading in the classification.

Question 33

Does WageIndicator register if a country’s minimum wage rates apply to the entire labour force?

Accepted Answer

Yes, WageIndicator registers full coverage in case a country implements a single, legally mandated minimum wage that applies nationwide to all employees, regardless of region, industry, or occupation. This statutory wage floor establishes the lowest legal amount that employers should pay to their workers. It also registers full coverage if a country implements a statutory minimum wage system with multiple legal wage rates, which are broken down by region, provided these regions cover the entire country. Japan, for example, has different minimum wage rates per prefecture, but all Japanese prefectures have a minimum wage rate.

FAQ Minimum Wages