Europe Floor Wage Background paper 2022

The Europe Floor Wage is vital for the Clean Clothes Campaign’s strategy. Global fashion brands and retailers should – as principal employers – pay the full price to their suppliers, i.e. a price which includes a living wage instead of a poverty wage for garment workers. The reality is that the gap between the wages workers earn and a wage their families can live on is huge. This wage gap tends to be bigger in Europe than in Asia. In 15 European countries where garments are produced the gap is on average 1 : 4. Though the right to a living wage is a human right, workers’ actual wages are far below a living wage and in Central, East and South-Eastern Europe even fall considerably below the EU poverty line.