My Country’s Minimum Wage fell BELOW average!(Malta)

Yesterday afternoon I took a normal and routine trip to the Supermarket and, as usual, while there, I decided to buy some newspapers. I generally buy two, I also like to read Business Weekly but yesterday I was in a complete state of shock when I took a glimpse at the front page of the Times of Malta. The title read 'Malta's minimum wage falls below EU average.' Just a quick point I'd like to clarify for all those who don't know what in heck a 'Malta' is, Malta is a small island found in the Mediterranean sea and is situated somewhere in between Sicily and Sardinia and very much neighboring Italy as well.

I'm usually not one say that 'I hadn't expected this' or 'I didn't think we'd come to that' but I can honestly say that although I assumed something like this wouldn't surprise me at all, my assumptions were finally proven wrong.

Ok, so without further adieu, here's what happened!

As of this year statistics on Eurostat are showing that 22 out of 28 countries of the European Union have national minimum wages set. EU bureau concluded that Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Cyprus do NOT have a minimum wage.The data which was submitted by the 22 countries stated that the average minimum wage across the EU was € 924. In my country, the minimum wage earned is €762 p/m ( €162<less than). Southern EU states like Greece, Portugal and also Malta, have minimum wages which range between €650- €1,000 p/m, whereas the other remaining countries which are the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, all have minimum wages which range just above €1,450- €2,071 p/m. Bulgaria has the lowest minimum wage of just €286 (The gender overall earnings gap in Bulgaria stands at 22.8%, taking into account three types of disadvantages and those are; lower hourly earnings, working fewer hours in paid jobs and lower employment rates...mindblown? I know I am). Across those 22 member states, the highest minimum wage is over seven times higher than the lowest.

In 2017, an agreement had been made by Unions to increase the minimum wage by €8 p/w (meaning €32 per month), however, as mentioned on the newspaper, the NGO moviment graffiti have went on to explain that this only applied to those who have been just over two years in employment at a single setting or placement of work. This indicates that, of course, there wasn't really an increase in minimum wage. There is an evident economic instability and these kinds of issues aren't being handled the way they should be but are being taken for granted. Moreover, the gender pay gap in my country affects us women by A LOT. Women in Malta earn 11% less on average than men and high positions of work still show the existing power the dominant gender has over the rest of society. This is excluding the fact that this pay gap is actually more prominent and visible in specific industries. Recent studies have shown that the pay gap is the reason for a third of women’s poverty after the age of 65 in Europe. Additionally, when talking about social and economic inequalities, one must also take into consideration that men who find themselves in the lower ranks of the hierarchy are ALSO facing harsh inequalities and in this case, social stratification tremendously affects them.

One other important thing to mention is that the PM of Malta, Joseph Muscat, had once introduced a 'living wage' which approximately gives a nearest round calculation of how much money is needed in order to lead a fairly decent life (higher than the current wage). He later on declared that it is 'irresponsible' to raise the current minimum wage.

Ok, basically, my chicken hand-writing shows calculations I made on some of the member states. They show the minimum wage per year, per month, per week and per hour (excluding the over-time). I also added some notes because I am repetitive like that!

Quote of the day!

(Everybody loves the Golden Girls!)

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