Czech government approves minimum wage hike

The Czech government has approved a rise in the minimum gross monthly wage by 1,000 crowns to 16,200 crowns as of January, Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (Social Democrats) told Reuters.

While only about 150,000 of the country’s 4 million employees earn the minimum wage, it is a benchmark for determining higher wages in a number of professions. This January, it rose 600 crowns.

Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová (for ANO) in September had ruled out increasing the minimum wage to 18,000 crowns a month, as proposed by the Social Democrats, the junior party in the governing coalition.

The average monthly gross salary was 38,275 crowns in the second quarter of 2021.