Right to minimum wage (WoL, V2)
| Quick info | |
|---|---|
| Data type | Numeric |
| Scale | Metric |
| Value labels | Not applicable in the strict sense since the scale is quasi-metric, but for coding the following values were used for orientation:
Scope for further gradations between 0 and 1 to reflect changes in the strength of the statutory law. |
| Technical name | technical name |
| Category | Labour and labour market |
| Label | Employees enjoy right to a universal minimum wage (WoL, V2) |
| Related indicators |
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This WoL indicator measures whether and to what extent a statutory minimum wage is provided for. It does not measure the level of the minimum wage or the age gradation.
In an employment relationship, the employee transfers the power of disposition over their productive labour to their employer for a fixed period of time in exchange for a wage. The amount of the wage is generally determined by the contractual parties.
However, there is an elementary contradiction of interests in the wage negotiation: for the employer, wages are costs that they want to keep as low as possible. For employees, on the other hand, the level of pay determines the extent of their opportunities for reproduction and social participation – so they have an interest in the highest possible pay. Without legal/collective regulation, this contradiction is resolved in favour of the employers by competing among employees: the pay that has to be paid is the lowest amount for which an employee can be found.
In this race to the bottom, there are periods of increased unemployment and underemployment, in particular, when wage levels are not even high enough to fully cover basic reproduction costs (housing, nutrition, clothing, health) or to enable a minimum standard of living. Politically undesirable consequences such as the endangerment of public health due to malnutrition, the increase in crime and homelessness – or, where applicable, the burden on the social system – can be limited or combated by the state through the introduction of a minimum wage.
By setting minimum wages or sanctioning autonomous minimum wage instruments, the state sets a lower minimum level of pay. This sets a minimum level of economic equality in the sense of equalising, in order to limit the competition of underbidding anchored in the logic of the market.
Variable E.8 in the Worlds of Labour (WoL) SPE template.
Coding rules
Equals up to 1 if a universal minimum wage is legally foreseen. Equals up to 0.67 if the law foresees differential minimum wages regulated by sector or profession without a universal wage floor. Equals up to 0.33 if the law provides for the possibility to introduce minimum wages by sector, profession, region, or otherwise on an occasional basis. Equals 0 otherwise. Scope for further gradations between 0 and 1 to reflect changes in the strength of the statutory law.
For detailed coding rules, please consult Fechner/Carlino 2025.
Bibliographic info
Citation: Fechner, Heiner and Marina Carlino (2025). Worlds of Labour (WoL) Leximetric Dataset. University of Bremen.
Related publications:- Mückenberger, Ulrich, 1985. "Die Krise des Normalarbeitsverhältnisses - Hat das Arbeitsrecht noch Zukunft?" Zeitschrift für Sozialreform 31: 415-434; 457-475
- Mückenberger, Ulrich, and Simon Deakin. 1989. "From Deregulation to a European Floor of Rights: Labour Law, Flexibilisation and the European Single Market." Zeitschrift Für Ausländisches Und Internationales Arbeits- Und Sozialrecht 3: 153–207.
- Carlino, M., Fechner, H., & Schäfer, A. (2024). Using leximetrics for coding legal segmentation in employment law: The development and potential of the Worlds of Labour database. In I. Dingeldey, H. Fechner, & U. Mückenberger (Eds.), Constructing Worlds of Labour. Coverage and Generosity of Labour Law as Outcomes of Regulatory Social Policy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Misc
Project manager(s):
Responsible for data coding: Heiner Fechner (2018-2025)
Responsible for data editing and entry: Heiner Fechner (2024-2025), Andrea Schäfer (2021-2025), Jean-Yves Gerlitz (2018-2020)
Principal Investigators: Irene Dingeldey, Ulrich Mückenberger
Student assistants (2018-2025): Julia Bode, Jessica Bonn, Daniel Euler, Maxime Fischer, Jan-Christopher Floren, Jennifer Götte, Désirée Hoppe, Irina Kyburz, Alexandra Kojnow, Tarek Mahmalat, Karolin Meyer, Johanna Nold, Tanusha Pali, Johannes Ramsauer, Max Sudhoff, Kristina Walter, Caroline Zambiasi.
- Version 0.001: Initial release
Revisions: No revisions yet.
This is the first version of the dataset of the thoroughly revised Version 2 WoL template; for the first time, all variables including those originally stemming from CBR-LRI have been coded/revised under WoL criteria. A preliminary version with compiled data (CBR-LRI and WoL) has been published in WeSIS marked by "CBR-LRI-based" and "WoL, V1".
Sources
Own coding.
Fechner, Heiner, and Marina Carlino (2025). Coding Legal Segmentation in Employment Law. The Worlds of Labour (WoL) Dataset. SFB 1342 Technical Paper Series, 22. Bremen: SFB 1342. https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/4191
