This report examines trends in employment in low-paid jobs and whether minimum wage policies influenced employment structures across the EU Member States between 2001 and 2024. Using a jobs-based framework and harmonised EU data, the analysis starts with a description of employment trends in selected low-paid jobs and in the whole employment structure, where patterns of upgrading and, to a lesser extent, polarisation emerge across Member States. The analysis then examines the effects of minimum wages on the distribution of employment across sectors and occupations and on the wage distribution. The results of an econometric analysis indicate that increases in real minimum wage levels may be linked to an upgrading of the employment structure. The analysis also finds that increasing the minimum wage reduces inequality at the lower end of the wage distribution, although no robust systematic relationship between minimum wages and wage inequality was identified.
