"Key points and policy recommendations
Despite substantial minimum wage increases, in almost half of the Member States with a statutory minimum wage, these were not sufficient to safeguard the purchasing power of minimum-wage earners in the current cost-of-living crisis. In order to better mitigate the negative effects of high inflation on the lives of workers and their families, Member States should take the following measures:
• Timely transposition of the European Minimum Wage Directive into national law to promote adequate minimum wages and adequate collective bargaining coverage as two important tools to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
• Of the Directive's four criteria which Member States shall take into account when setting statutory minimum wages, the criterion “purchasing power taking into account the cost of living” should be given clear priority in times of high inflation – this would also help to adjust statutory minimum wages more regularly and timely in order to protect the most vulnerable workers from rising prices.
• Following the example of a range of countries, Member States should anticipate the effect of the Minimum Wage Directive by already applying its double decency threshold for adequate minimum wages of 60% of the median and 50% of the average wage as the benchmark for setting statutory minimum wages.
• Because high collective bargaining coverage ensures higher wage levels, Member States should also go early by taking the Directive's 80% threshold for adequate collective bargaining coverage as the benchmark for establishing action plans to gradually increase collective bargaining coverage."

Support: Digital