According to Eurostat, which on Friday published a survey of minimum wages in place since 1 January 2017, in 22 EU member states – Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finlandand Sweden do not have a minimum wage - Portugal is placed 12th, with a salary of €650 (a figure calculated by Eurostat that averages out additional payments of the so-called 13th and 14th month paid in Portugal in summer and at Christmas, as the minimum wage is currently €557 per month).

However, Eurostat said, “the minimum wage can also be measured in relative terms, or rather, as a proportion of the average gross monthly wage,” and among EU member states for which figures are available, just three countries has a minimum wage of over 60% of the gross average wage, namely Portugal (64%), France and Slovenia (both with 62%).

With the increase of the minimum wage from €530 to €557 per month on 1 January, Portugal is now in the second group defined by Eurostat, with figures of between €500 and €10,000 per months, with Greece (€684), Malta (€736), Slovenia (€805) and Spain (€826).

The countries with the highest minimum wages are Luxembourg (€1,999), Ireland (€1,563), the Netherlands (€1,552), Belgium (€1,532), Germany (€1,498), France (€1,480) and the United Kingdom (€1,397).

The member states with the lowest minimum wages are Bulgaria (€235), Romania (€275), Latvia and Lithuania (€380).