This report summarises how minimum wage rates for 2021 were set during 2020 – the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. It reviews the difficulties faced by national decision-makers and how they reacted to the challenges of the economic and social fall-out of the pandemic when making decisions regarding the minimum wage. It maps the extent to which minimum wages were referred to in COVID-19-related support measures. It discusses advances made on the EU initiative on adequate minimum wages and maps the reactions of the EU-level social partners and national decision-makers.

21 May 2021 10.00 am CET - EESC Workers' Group Webinar

#EUMinimumWages

The European Commission's proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages has sparked controversy among member states and social partners alike across Europe.

The proposal develops the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, aiming to improve the working and living conditions of millions of workers in the EU.

Today one in five Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while 10% of workers are considered working poor.

The enormity of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and work of Europeans is hard to capture, but Eurofound’s priority in 2020 was to record and assess the experience of this societal upheaval across the EU Member States in all its detail, variety and modulation. Living and working in Europe 2020 provides a snapshot of how the COVID-19 confinement measures changed employment, work and quality of life in Europe, as gathered by Eurofound’s research activities in 2020.

On foot of a request from the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has prepared a Code of Practice to give guidance on best practice to organisations and their employees on the Right to Disconnect.