‘Minimum wage is a fortune to newcomers’

IRELAND’S modest minimum wage represents a fortune in the majority of the 10 accession countries due to join the European Union in May this year, a recent study shows.

Under the most recent increase announced by the Government, workers on the minimum wage here will by law have to be paid €7 per hour from this Sunday, giving a full-time employee monthly earnings of almost €1,100.

That works out at five times the amount on offer to workers in Poland and Hungary who earn just €201 and €212 per month respectively under their countries’ minimum wage provisions.