Key Points
- Slovakia will increase its monthly minimum wage from €915 in 2026 to €972 in 2027.
- Labour Minister Erik Tomas says the new rate will bring the minimum wage closer to €1,000.
- About 160,000 workers are expected to be affected when all minimum-wage levels linked to job difficulty are considered.
Main Story
Slovakia will raise its monthly minimum wage to €972 in 2027 from €915 in 2026, Labour Minister Erik Tomas has announced.
Tomas disclosed the increase on Tuesday following a meeting of the country’s tripartite council.
He said the new rate would bring Slovakia’s minimum wage closer to the €1,000 threshold.
The minister also projected that the minimum wage could rise further to €1,016 in 2028, taking it above €1,000.
The increase will also affect additional payments for night and weekend work because those payments are linked to the minimum wage.
Under Slovak law, the minimum wage is determined annually for the following calendar year and applies to both monthly and hourly earnings.
The law provides that the minimum wage should be equivalent to 60 per cent of the average nominal salary recorded two years earlier.
Data from the Slovak Statistics Office showed that the country’s average nominal salary was €1,620 in 2025.
Tomas said about 120,000 employees were receiving the basic minimum wage in 2026.
However, when the six minimum-wage levels based on job difficulty are included, the number of workers affected by the increase rises to about 160,000.
The figure represents approximately six per cent of Slovakia’s workforce.
The Issues
The planned increase will raise the statutory earnings floor for workers in Slovakia and move the basic minimum wage closer to the €1,000 mark.
Because several employment-related payments are calculated using the minimum wage, the increase will also raise compensation for eligible night and weekend work.
The number of workers affected is expected to be broader than those currently earning the basic minimum wage, with the different rates based on job difficulty bringing the total to about 160,000 employees.
What’s Being Said
“The increase would bring the minimum wage closer to the 1,000-euro threshold.”
— Erik Tomas, Labour Minister
“The minimum wage could rise to 1,016 euros in 2028, exceeding the 1,000-euro mark.”
— Erik Tomas, Labour Minister
What’s Next
Slovakia will implement the €972 monthly minimum wage in 2027 under its annual statutory wage-setting framework.
The minimum wage is projected to rise again to €1,016 in 2028 if the current calculation mechanism produces the estimated rate.
Bottom Line
Slovakia’s minimum monthly wage will rise by €57 in 2027, taking it to €972 and bringing the statutory pay floor closer to €1,000, with about 160,000 workers expected to benefit across the different minimum-wage levels.
