Around 6% of workers in the Netherlands are still paid according to minimum pay rates, the national statistics agency CBS said on Friday, ahead of celebrations to mark 50 years since the concept was introduced in the Netherlands.

People working via staffing agencies and in the hospitality sector are most likely to earn minimum pay rates, the CBS said.

In total, 23% of people from new EU member states such as Poland and 9% of people from outside the EU earn the minimum wage of €1,615.80 gross for a 40-hour week.

The number of people earning minimum pay rates has remained around 6% since the turn of the century. ‘This percentage should go down when the economy is performing better and there are more jobs,’ Arend van Wijngaarden, chairman of the CNV trade union federation told the AD.

‘We are calling on companies to pay more than minimum pay rates so that workers can benefit as well. The cost of living is continually going up.’

On Saturday it was 50 years ago that the adult minimum wage of 611.70 guilders – around €278 – was first brought in.