Minimum wage: Portugal

A euro is not worth the same everywhere: 100 € buys much more in Bulgaria than in Luxembourg. Eurostat therefore also converts wages into the purchasing power standard (PPS), an artificial currency that removes price level differences. 1 PPS buys roughly the same amount of goods and services in every EU country.

• The wage in EUR is what the employer actually pays. For a haulier, that is the cost.
• The wage in PPS shows the standard of living it buys the employee in that country.

Example: a country with a 1,000 € minimum wage and prices 30% below the EU average has a wage of about 1,430 PPS. A country with the same wage and prices 20% above average has only about 830 PPS.