The de facto minimum wage in Northern Europe is actually set by the relatively high unemployment benefits. Few people want to work for less than that. Most wa

The de facto minimum wage in Northern Europe is actually set by the relatively high unemployment benefits. Few people want to work for less than that. Most wages are of course higher than that because the market can bear more. Those wages are mostly set by market conditions but the unions and the employers' associations do perform a big ritual every few years (and they do affect the wages a bit). The problem comes in sectors with a high degree of monopsony -- only one or a few big employers. Examples are schools and hospitals -- the unions and various levels of the state apparatus (often including parliament and government) have a large influence on the wages there.