Geneva Introduces World’s Highest Hourly Minimum Wage

Swiss state of Geneva is now the highest minimum hourly wage offering region in the world with the residents of the city recently having voted in favor of a measure asking for introducing a minimum wage of 23 Swiss francs per hour which is equivalent to USD $25.

This achievement for the city dwellers to live life comfortably with their salary came in their third attempt as previous two calls were voted against by very themselves.

Mountainous Central European country Switzerland as a whole has no minimum wage structure. A call for that was rejected in a referendum by the people in 2014.

Geneva, one of 26 Swiss cantons or states, is now third city in the country with a minimum hourly earnings rate after Jura and Neuchatel.

As per reports, the novel coronavirus pandemic encouraged residents in Geneva to come in favor of the initiative for introducing an hourly minimum wage mechanism.

According to data available on the government’s website, nearly 58% of voters in Geneva favored the measure designed to combat poverty and respect human dignity.

Over 300k people commute from France to work in Switzerland every day, with the biggest concentration of foreign workers in the Lake Geneva region.

The cost of living in Switzerland is very high, and cross-border commuters are often blamed for undercutting local residents on wages.

Top 12 Countries With Highest Minimum Hourly Wage :  According to data from Germany’s Wirtschafts-und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut (WSI), Australia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, France, and the Netherlands offer the highest minimum hourly wages in the world.

The hourly minimum wage in Australia is US$19.84, Luxembourg at US$13.14, New Zealand at US$11.28, France at US$11.24, while the Netherlands offers US$11.01, Ireland at US$ 10.87, Belgium at US$10.78, Germany US$10.06, United Kingdom US$9.74, Canada at US$9.06, Japan at US$7.61 and United States offers US$ 7.31 per hour.