Income distribution

French companies will have three years to erase their gender pay gaps or face possible fines under plans presented by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on March 7 to unions and employers.

Cyprus is making steady progress in reducing the pay gap between men and women, data from the European statistical authority, Eurostat, showed on Wednesday.

According to figures for 2016, the unadjusted gender pay gap in Cyprus stood at 13.9 percent against an EU average of 16 percent, meaning that women earned 0.84 euros to every 1 euro made by a man.

General practitioners (GP) in Sofia protest in front of the Ministry of Health.

The reason for the protest is the worsened working conditions in recent months. The main requests of the doctors are to reduce administrative activities and obligations, to pay for their social activities, to drop the reports with the notes of the cash receipts.

MPs' salary will  increase by about BGN 300 to BGN 3540, which is a consequence of the increase in the average wage in the public sector in Bulgaria. According to the National Statistical Institute, it was 1180 BGN in December.

According to Parliament's Rules of Procedure, parliamentary wages are three times the average in the public sector in the last month of the previous quarter.

U.S. central bankers are divided over how fast they will need to raise interest rates next year, given differences over the causes behind the low inflation and wage gains seen to date, according to a report released on Jan. 3.

A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.

The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on raising minimum wage (MLP) to the minimum living level, transmits news.bg by referring to TASS. The document was published on the official legal information page on Friday.

As 2018 draws nearer, the government has repeated one of its main election promises that brought leftist SYRIZA to power in 2015, as Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou left open the possibility of an increase in the minimum wage as soon as Greece emerges from its bailout program in August.

The minimum wage is going to be BGN 510 from January 1, 2018. MPs decided today. This is an increase of 10.9% compared to the current year./bTV

The National Tripartite Cooperation Council will discuss the minimum wage for 2018, unemployment benefits, and changes to the Pensions and Insurances Act.

An increase in the minimum wage from 460 to 510 leva foresees the budget for the next year. The increase in the minimum insurance income will be 3.9%.

Businesses are opposed to the increase, trade unions define it as low.