Have the average wages of the Eurozone countries converged?

Abstract: This thesis analyses the progression of the average wages of the countries in the Eurozone between 1996 and 2017. The purpose of this study is to examine if the wages in those countries have converged during this period and the impact of adopting the Euro had. To answer that question, data has been collected for every country and expose the progression of the average wages relatively to the Eurozone’s average. Furthermore, the thesis employs an econometrical model to conclude if the average wages are statistically different from the Eurozone’s average.  With the above process, this paper concludes that there is no significant indication of wage convergence between all countries during the analysed period. However, by omitting Luxembourg, Finland, France, Ireland, Greece and Portugal there are trends of convergence in the remaining countries, both above and below the Eurozone average wage throughout the period. The econometrical model concludes that Finland and France are the only countries whose average wages are not statistically different from the Eurozone average throughout the analysed period. Finally, the adoption of the Euro does not appear to have an impact in terms of wage convergence.