Poland’s minimum hourly wage has, for the first time, surpassed the federal minimum wage in the United States. On 1 January, the minimum wage in Poland rose to 30.50 zloty per hour before tax, which at the average exchange rate so far this year is $7.35
Unions are why Australia has the highest minimum wage. if you’re ever unfortunate enough to be in a minimum wage job make a point of organising.
I thought the highest worldwide were in Geneva?
was just going off wikipedia but you’re right. Switzerland doesn’t have a national minimum wage but the few cantons that do are the highest in the world.
heh, Aus is top of every list I can find because they are all sorted by national minimum. I would argue that a national award is stronger than a local minimum but I also like seeing us on top, so biased.
Good job Poland! Do better US!
Next they will find they can into space.
I think you a word
Ooooooh, yes! So they can have bragging rights for a literally pointless but expensive act! Brilliant!
Had to read it three times to realize its Poland not Portland
I have to admit, I’m somewhat confounded by the choice of countries here. I guess it’s minor bragging rights for Poland? The US federal rate is 21st in the world, from what I can look up (presumably before Poland slipped in there, so… 22nd, I guess?), and the average minimum wage is 10th (and still higher than Poland’s, incidentally).
I don’t know that “random country in the middle of the pack loses/gains one more position” seems super newsworthy.
Well presumably a Polish dedicated website would be looking at this even from a Polish perspective.
Newsworthy does not only mean important to Americans.
Yeah, it’s just… have some self-esteem, you know? We expect you to do better for your own sake in this house, Poland. No need to keep comparing yourself to the US just because you think it’s popular. I promise you the US doesn’t like itself that much, either.
I mean, if the US jumped off a bridge would you? We like you, Poland, but you have to learn to value yourself for who you are.
I imagine from Polands point of view, it is another step towards being a wealthy country, rather than a poor country on the edge of Europe. It’s not necessarily bad to compare, nor does it change things in Poland. However, knowing that you get paid the same as many in the USA, with, I would assume, cheaper prices for most things and better social support is a big deal for those on minimum wage. 50 years ago, countries like Poland looked up to the USA. Now they are seen as a larger peer, but it’s less about the USAs decline, more polands arrival.
I don’t know if you’re Polish, but if they see themselves like that it’s probably time to stop. Not only are they the 10th largest economy in the EU, but even looking at GDP per capita they easily lead the pack among the Eastern European members.
Look, I get it, it’s easy to carry that sense of history having made you miss the boat when it comes to European/Western standards. Been there, done that. For whatever is worth, Poland has been out there as a tech hub and a mid-sized player in the EU for long enough I haven’t thought of them that way for at least this decade.
I think of them as being one of the early dumbasses to get their far right propped to power by general stupidity, which is another metric where they’re trading blows with the US.
Can’t win them all, I suppose.
It’s a website dedicated to news around Poland, and you think that Poland overtaking the US in minimum wage for the first time ever isn’t news worthy of such a site…?
The news isn’t “hey look were better than the almighty US!!!” it’s “hey we’ve got a better minimum wage than x country which we’ve never had before”
It kinda seems like they’re giving the US more deferrence than they deserve, considering how middle-of-the-pack they are in this particular metric, so I’m not sure I agree with your characterization. But hey, not that big of a deal.
Funny enough I would say the US already jumped off a bridge, and sadly enough several countries in the EU are right on the heels.
You know, I genuinely considered making that joke and then remembered my vow to stop caring about what Americans choose to do to themselves.
It highlights how corrupted the supposed #1 “greatest and richest” country in the world has become. It needs adjusted
You are making a lot of assumptions about who believes the US meets that description, which feels a bit ethnocentric to begin with.
This may come as a shock, but I don’t necessarily expect the US to be bigger or better than anybody at anything, and never have. Especially not when compared to what is effectively the average European economy. If this wasn’t coming from a Polish-focused news site I’d find it patronizing. As it is, it seems kinda needlessly self-deprecating.
It’s gaining over a very rich country. True, that rich country should do better, but still, it’s something to be proud of to be able to do better than such a rich country.
This article is about Poland. Their transition to capitalism was done in a sane way after the fall of the Soviet Union where instead of shock therapy they allowed private companies go outcompete public ones. Polish people have also worked very hard around the continent and send remittances back home on a regular basis.
Poland has been developing so fast that it now hit a benchmark of having their min wage higher than that of the US with their exploitative worker policy. This is great news about how far Poland has come compared to the stagnation of wages in the US. Poland started a whole generation behind the US in 1990 so good on them.
Yeah, like I said, been there, done that. All that’s well and good, but there’s no need to make a milestone of the US in particular. At least set the bar one step higher, which Wikipedia tells me is actually Lithuania. I find that puts things in perspective a bit better, honestly. And if you need a fancy big economy Japan is just a couple steps up that ladder.
