The Study on wage setting systems and minimum rates of pay applicable to posted workers in accordance with Directive 96/71/EC took place in  the context of the Multiple Framework Contracts for the provision of services related to evaluation, evaluative studies, analysis and research work, including support for impact assessment activities VC/2013/0086 Lot N°2.

 

Eftheia was subcontracted by Consortium leader Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini (FGB) to ensure the scientific coordination of the study and to provide the country reports for Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

 

The central point of the study is the concept of posted workers’ ‘minimum rates of pay’ and their interrelation with the diversity of wage-setting mechanisms used in the Member States. The study presents an overview of wage-setting mechanisms in relation to the Posting Directive, analyses the impact of these mechanisms on various aspects of minimum wages, and reports on the interpretation of the concept of ‘minimum rates of pay’ within the meaning of the Posting Directive. The scope of the study is confined to nine Member States, selected according to the prevalence of posting and wage-setting tradition, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The study’s scope is moreover restricted to four different economic sectors, characterised by a high number of postings and displaying particular features in terms of posting. These focus sectors are: construction; road transport; health and long-term care services; and temporary work agencies.

 

The study relies on both quantitative and qualitative assessments and has a twofold legal and socio-economic dimension. It is the result of research undertaken at national level, by national experts in each of the focus countries, and centrally, by an inter-disciplinary team of thematic experts. Interviews with key stakeholders at national and EU level constituted a crucial source of information, next to desk research.