National Living Wage In Comparison To Minimum Wages Across Europe

We're doing better than some but not others...
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This is how the UK's new national living wage compares to the minimum wages for other countries in Europe.

The new legal pay rate for over 25s is £7.20 an hour, the equivalent of around £15,000 a year if you work a 40-hour week.

It puts us in a good position compared to other countries, although the rate is still behind that of Luxemburg, France and the Netherlands.

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People on the minimum wage in eastern Europe earn far less - with Bulgaria on the lowest level at the equivalent of just 97p per hour.

Hungarians and Romanians also have a low minimum, far behind the top figure in Luxemburg, where people take home at least £8.74 - that's even above the UK voluntary 'living wage' calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, which reflects the cost of living here.