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🇩🇰Minimum Wage in Denmark: No Statutory Minimum

Denmark has no statutory national minimum wage. Minimum pay is set in collective agreements (overenskomster) between employers’ organisations and trade unions.1,2

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Statutory national minimum wage
None1
Pay floors set by
Collective agreements (overenskomster)1,2
Employees covered by a collective agreement
81% (2023)5
Average gross annual salary, 2024 (Eurostat)
€71,565

How pay floors work instead

Denmark has no mechanism that extends a collective agreement by law to employers outside the signing organisations. An employer that does not belong to an employers’ organisation can sign a single-employer agreement with a trade union instead.2

In the private sector two agreements set the pace: the Industrial Agreement between Danish Industry and CO-industri, and the Transport and Logistics Agreement between Danish Industry and 3F. They set the mark for wage developments for most private-sector workers, including low-paid workers.2

There is no central register of agreement coverage in Denmark, so estimates depend on the method: the employers’ confederation DA calculates 81% for 2023, and a 2025 survey found that 69% of the active workforce said they were covered.3,4

Denmark reported to the European Commission a collective bargaining coverage rate of 81% for 2023.5

The EU minimum wage directive

Denmark is an EU member state. In November 2024 the Ministry of Employment’s Implementation Committee, which consists of the social partners, concluded in a report prepared by a working group that Directive (EU) 2022/2041 currently requires no changes in Danish law. Denmark challenged the directive before the Court of Justice (Case C-19/23); on 11 November 2025 the Court annulled provisions that concern statutory minimum wages and dismissed the rest of the action. Eurofound notes that the annulled provisions have no effect on Denmark, which has no statutory minimum wage.2,6,7,8

See the full minimum wage ranking across Europe →

Frequently asked questions

Does Denmark have a minimum wage?
Denmark has no statutory national minimum wage. Minimum pay is set in collective agreements (overenskomster), which cover 81% of employees (2023, as reported to the European Commission).
How are minimum wages set in Denmark?
Employers’ organisations and trade unions negotiate collective agreements. There is no mechanism to extend them by law, but an employer outside an employers’ organisation can sign a single-employer agreement with a union.
Did Denmark challenge the EU minimum wage directive?
Yes. Denmark brought an action for annulment (Case C-19/23). On 11 November 2025 the Court of Justice annulled parts of Article 5, which concern statutory minimum wages, and dismissed the rest of the action.
How many employees are covered by collective agreements in Denmark?
Denmark reported 81% for 2023 to the European Commission. Danish estimates differ with the method; there is no central register of agreement coverage.

Sources

  1. 1.Minimum wages (earn_minw): reference metadata · Eurostat ·
  2. 2.Minimum wage in Denmark · Eurofound ·
  3. 3.Aftalesystemet (Arbejdsmarkedet i tal) · Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (DA) ·
  4. 4.Kollektiv overenskomstdækning i Danmark (Forskningsnotat) · Aalborg Universitet (CARMA) ·
  5. 5.Report on minimum wage protection and the action plans to promote collective bargaining, COM(2026) 388 · European Commission ·
  6. 6.Afrapportering fra arbejdsgruppen for implementering af mindstelønsdirektivet · Beskæftigelsesministeriet (Danish Ministry of Employment) ·
  7. 7.Danmark lever allerede op til mindstelønsdirektivet · Beskæftigelsesministeriet (Danish Ministry of Employment) ·
  8. 8.Judgment of the Court of 11 November 2025, Denmark v Parliament and Council (C-19/23) · Court of Justice of the European Union (EUR-Lex) ·

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