The EC's recommended "decency threshold" figure for UK workers is £6.60 an hour.

This figure - based on a calculation of 68% of average UK earnings - is £2 an hour more than the amount being sought by British trade unions.

A minimum wage of £3.60 (£3.20 for 18 to 21 year olds) is also below most of the levels in force in other EU countries, according to the last figures released to parliament last July.

However, the same statistics suggest that a rate of £3.60 an hour would be higher than the minimum wages in other non-EU competitors, including the United States and Japan.

Minimum wage levels July 1997

• Belgium - £4.76
• Canada - £2.75
• France - £3.94
• Greece - £2.19
• Japan - £2.43
• Luxembourg - £4.53
• Netherlands - £4.44
• New Zealand - £2.78
• Portugal - £1.80
• Spain - £1.62
• USA - £3.19