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The EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) is aimed at collecting various components of the European states’ conditions, as well as providing timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal data comparison on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions. Besides, the issues of minimum wages are also vital…
Background
EU’s social policy aims to promote employment, improve living and working conditions, ensure adequate social protection, and combat social exclusion. These objectives are pursued through a combination of EU-level initiatives and the coordination of national policies. The EU’s social policy framework is based on the principle that social rights are fundamental and that social progress is essential for the well-being of citizens and the overall success of the Union. Besides, it is well-worth mentioning that the EU integration process is based on the concept of “social market economy’s” principle, which is basically different from the growth models in other parts of the world.
More in: https://www.etui.org/publications/books/social-policy-in-the-european-union-1999-2019-the-long-and-winding-road; as well as in: https://www.eumonitor.eu/9353000/1/j9vvik7m1c3gyxp/vkfejsgnxbx9?ctx=vk4jic6t1dxz
Key aspects of EU social policy
The following enumeration gives a short view of the EU-wide social policy:
= Promoting employment: the EU strives to create a high level of employment and improve the quality of jobs through various initiatives, including those focused on skills development, lifelong learning, and supporting entrepreneurship.
= Improving working and living conditions: i.e. it involves setting standards for working hours, health and safety in the workplace, and fair pay, as well as addressing issues like precarious work and the impact of new technologies on the labor market.
= Ensuring adequate social protection: in this regard, the EU aims to guarantee access to social security benefits, healthcare, and other forms of social protection that are adequate to meet the needs of individuals and families.
= Combating social exclusion: this includes efforts to address poverty, homelessness, and other forms of marginalization, as well as promoting social inclusion through access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.
The EU-SILC statistics
As to the EU-wide statistics on income and living conditions, it reflects household and individual data collection in the member states with an intention to “harmonize” it as is regulated by the states’ legislation; hence, around 90% of the data collection is made up of annual variables. The rest are either modules that are collected every three or six years, or modules conducted ad-hoc to reply to policy needs.
Data about individuals and households are send to Eurostat by the participating countries respecting legal deadlines and agreed guidelines and procedures.
The EU’s statistics on Income and Living Conditions, EU-SILC is aimed to collect timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional micro-data on income distribution, poverty and social exclusion. It also covers various related EU living conditions and poverty policies, such as child poverty, access to healthcare and other services, housing, over-indebtedness and quality of life.
It is also the main source of data for micro-simulation purposes and flash estimates of income
distribution and poverty rates; hence, this information instrument is anchored in the European Statistical System, ESS.
The EU-SILC project was launched in 2003 on the basis of a ‘gentlemen agreement’ among the initial six member states (Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg and Austria) and Norway. Then, the EU-SILC information “instrument” started in 2004 for the EU-15 (except Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) plus Estonia, Norway and Iceland.
Bulgaria and Türkiye started fully implementing the EU-SILC instrument in 2006, while Romania and Switzerland began to implement it in 2007; North Macedonia and Croatia started in 2010, Montenegro and Serbia in 2013, Albania in 2017, Kosovo in 2018 and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/203647/20298610/Methodological+guidelines+2023+operation_v6-accessibility.pdf/2d6aa68c-aa51-d386-1f1c-0206fda5be49?t=1730709878443
Data collection
EU-SILC provides two types of data:
a) cross-sectional data over a given time or a certain period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion, and other living conditions
b) longitudinal data on individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over a 4-year period.
Information on social exclusion and housing conditions is collected mainly at the household level. Labor, education, and health information is obtained from individuals aged 16 and over. Income variables at the detailed component level are also mainly collected from individuals.
Source and reference: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/european-union-statistics-on-income-and-living-conditions
Statistic’s key takeaways
There are some interesting facts about the European-wide income and living conditions:
= Switzerland has highest gross annual income on the continent (€208,755), and families keep about 86% of that pay (€178,553).
= The Netherlands also punches above its weight: fifth in gross pay, €131,563 and households keep 77% of it (€101,465).
= Romanian families don’t make more than €40,116 a year, but have a heavy tax burden, taking home only about 67% of their pay (€26,766).
More information on the income and living conditions in Europe in: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/public-microdata/statistics-on-income-and-living-conditions
National minimum wages vs. collective wage bargaining
Recently, the minimum wages in the Eu member states have risen sharply, making collective wage bargaining and general wage developments increasingly complicated. Besides, minimum wages also play a key role in improving wage levels among the lowest-paid employees, although spillover effects occur across the wider wage distribution.
Hence, some argue that national minimum wages have a positive impact on raising negotiated wage levels; others note that a “careful policy design is required to avoid the crowding-out of collective bargaining, especially in low-paid sectors”.
Empirical findings by Eurofound (based on a sample of nearly 700 collective agreements in low-paid sectors across 17 EU member states between 2015 and 2022) have shown that higher national minimum wages did not discourage collective wage bargaining. On the contrary, they contribute to raising collectively agreed wage floors in these low-paid sectors.
In many EU member states, national minimum wages have been growing faster than average and median wages. As minimum wages become relatively higher, a key policy concern is whether minimum wage policy directly affects a larger share of employees and contributes to overall wage developments.
Source and citation in: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/resources/article/2025/minimum-wages-have-significant-effect-negotiated-and-actual-wages#msdynttrid=iUdZAk0wXPCSlI3YFeyBf2UFy0eL5q9j_7bpA4L6bmc
More on the minimum wages in EU on:
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/minimum-wages-eu