Hall points to the intention of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who promised to raise the country´s minimum wage by an extraordinary 78 percent from 2,250 zlotys a month to 4,000 zlotys by 2023. The minimum wage would thus be around 60 percent of the average wage, which would represent the highest share of the OECD.
However, wages are rising sharply in the Czech Republic and other Central European countries as well. The Financial Times editor gives an example of Czech workers at Škoda, the Volkswagen-owned automaker, and Hungarian luxury car manufacturer Audi from the same concern.
Mateusz Szczurek of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development highlights the growing share of local enterprises in central European economies. According to him, Slovak auto workers may be as productive as their German counterparts.
Although parts of central Europe are running out of workers because of lower birth rates and higher migration, according to economists, rising wage cost is a standard market mechanism that increases overall prosperity by pushing employees from weak businesses to more profitable ones that can afford to pay higher wages.
