Australia might have the highest hourly minimum wage in the world, but it’s also one of the most expensive places in the world to live. $16 in Australia doesn’t buy as much stuff as it does in theU.S. When you adjust Australia’s hourly minimum wage for buying power, or Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), that $16 is worth only about $9.77 -- which is still quite a bit higher than the U.S. hourly minimum wage of $7.25. The country with the highest “real” minimum wage is Luxembourg: $10.37 after being adjusted for PPP. Only nine countries had a higher real minimum wage than the U.S.’, according to OECD data.
