*Luxembourg tops the Europe's monthly minimum wage league, outstripping EU candidate Romania by more than twenty times, according to official statistics.
Eurostat, the Brussels statistics office has unveiled minimum wage figures showing widely differing levels between the EU's 25 member states.
Figures for January 2005 show Luxembourg's monthly minimum wage at €1467, compared to Romania on just €72, followed closely by Bulgaria on €77.
The figures show EU newcomers Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic also fairly low on the scale with wages between €116 to €235.
They were all surprisingly outstripped by Turkey - another EU hopeful - whose minimum wage levels stand at €240 per month.
France and Britain showed equal minimum wage rates for 2005 at €1197 - ranking them at equal fourth highest - after Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium.
In the US federal minimum wage level is equivalent to €666 - just slightly less than in Greece - where the rate is €668.
Minimum wage increases are also highlighted in the report which show that since 1999, the minimum wage in France has risen by 16 per cent, and in Luxembourg by 26 per cent.
The percentage of full-time employees with earnings at minimum wage level also differs between member states, according to the report.
In Slovakia, Spain, Malta, the UK, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Ireland, the percentage of employees on minimum wage was between 0.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent.
By contrast the percentage in Estonia was 6.4 per cent, Hungary 8.1 per cent, Lithuania 10.2 per cent Romania 12.2 per cent France 13.4 per cent, Lativa 13.6 per cent and Luxembourg 16.9 per cent.
The minimum wage, set by national governments, is used in 18 member states and in three candidate countries - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.
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