Raise your hand if you have never wondered which countries earn the most. In this article we will analyse various data on average, minimum and general salaries worldwide. Average Wage by State from 1990 to 2020.
Average Wage by State
Let’s start by answering a first question. Which countries have the highest average wages? In first place – globally – in 2020 is the United States. According to data from the OECD, which analyses average wages per year, the average wage in the United States is $69,392.
Despite the covid-19 pandemic the average wage in the US from 2019 to 2020 grew by over $3,000. Growth that was not the same for the other two countries that outperformed the US in 2019: Iceland and Luxembourg. In Iceland, the world’s second-largest nation in 2020 by average salary, the figure fell by almost three thousand dollars from 2019 to 2020. In Luxembourg, the drop was smaller. From $66,840 in 2019 to $65,854 in 2020.
Among the world’s leading countries in terms of average salary are many European countries. These include Switzerland with 64.824, the Netherlands with 58.828, Denmark with 58.430 and Norway with 55.780. This is followed by Canada and Australia.
Average Wage by State 2020
- United States: 69,392$;
- Iceland: 67,488$;
- Luxembourg: 65,854$;
- Switzerland: 64,824$;
- Netherlands: 58,828$;
- Denmark: 58,430$;
- Norway: 55,780$;
- Canada: 55,342$;
- Australia: 55,206$;
- Belgium: 54,327$;
- Germany: 53,745$:
- Austria: 53,132$;
- Ireland: 49,474$;
- United Kingdom: 47,147$;
- Sweden: 47,020$
Higher minimum wages
We saw above which nations, according to the OECD, have the highest average wages in the world. But what are the nations where the official minimum wages are? A premise is in order. Not all nations have minimum wages. If we take Italy, labor agreements are signed through sectoral bargaining. Depending on the sector, depending on the type of contract, wages change.
Let’s take the nominal hourly minimum wage in dollars as variables. What is the nation with the highest wage? Australia ranks first. In fact, the estimated minimum wage is $14.54 nominal per hour. In second place among the nations where the minimum wage is highest is Luxembourg. The nominal value per hour is in fact equal to $13.67. In third place we find instead New Zealand with 13.18 dollars. Among the top positions there is also France where the nominal minimum wage in dollars is 11.97 and the annual minimum wage is 21,786 dollars.
Instead, what are the countries where the minimum wage is lowest? Not counting the nations where the minimum wage is not present (and labor market regulations are different) the last positions for minimum wage in dollars are Bangladesh, Kyrgzystan, Tanzania, Georgia and Sudan. In the first three of this group, the value is just under $0.10. While in Georgia and Sudan the value is even between 4 and 5 cents of dollars per hour.
Average salary in the United States
If we have seen which are the nations in the world where the average wage is highest and then which are the nations by minimum wage in this paragraph we try to analyze the data of the United States. What are the states where the average dollar wage is highest (2018 data?).
The state where the average dollar wage is highest is District Of Columbia. The Wage in this small U.S. state is $71,690. Far more distant are all the other states. In second position we find in fact Massachusetts with $48,680 and in third position Alaska. But what is the average wage in California? In California, the average wage nedio was $42,430. What about New York? New York surpasses California with $44,990.
The state where the minimum wage is lowest is Puerto Rico where the estimate is just over $20,000. In second to last position is Mississippi with $30,580 and in third to last position is Arkansas with $31,850. In the map above it is possible to see the figure for each individual U.S. state.
Source and links
This article took several hours to make. The sources used are the OECD database, tranding economics, US Department of Labor.
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