THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS ON MINIMUM WAGE

Like the rest of the world, the European Union in 2008 has been hit by the global economic and financial crisis. European Member States were affected to varying degrees by the crisis, and their counter response to its effects has not been the same. The austerity measures applied by the authorities have mostly affected the labor market. Recourse was made to wage cuts, to reduce normal duration of work, to redundancies, and in parallel to increase taxes and fees for both the employees and the employers. But the labor market, even in these times has to provide social protection for the employees, and one of these measures is, in most European Member States, the enactment of a minimum wage. This paper aims to analyze to what extent the level and dynamics of the minimum wage has been unaffected by the crisis, especially if it proved its effectiveness in terms of social protection of the workers.