January is a popular month for job changes as employees act on New Year’s resolutions and companies adjust their hiring plans for the first quarter.
For many workers, salary plays an important role in determining their next career move. Aside from clear disparities between sectors, paychecks also differ widely across European countries, both in nominal terms and when adjusted for purchasing power.
Considering a change of location as well as company? Or are you simply curious about what your neighbours are earning? According to Eurostat’s most recent data from 2024, here’s how pay differs across Europe.
Average close to €40,000 in the EU
The average annual salary per employee in the EU is €39,808. Among EU countries, it ranges from €15,387 in Bulgaria to €82,969 in Luxembourg, which is 5.4 times higher.
Besides Luxembourg, the salary average is above €50,000 in five more countries: Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, and Germany.
At the bottom of the ranking, in addition to Bulgaria, the average annual salary per employee is less than €20,000 in Greece and Hungary.
In many countries, a large share of people work part-time, although Eurostat adjusts the data to indicate what the average would be if all employees worked full-time.
The figures show that salaries are generally higher in Western and Northern Europe, and lower in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Reasons behind the pay differences
Giulia De Lazzari, an economist at the International Labour Organization (ILO), emphasised that the economic structure and productivity of nations is a key reason for cross-country differences.
“Higher productivity enables countries to sustain higher wages,” she told Euronews Business.
Lazzari noted that countries with a greater share of high-value-added sectors such as finance, IT, and advanced manufacturing tend to have higher wages compared to countries where employment is concentrated in lower value-added sectors. The latter includes industries such as agriculture, textiles, or basic services.
“The presence and strength of trade unions, the coverage and depth of collective bargaining agreements, and the level of statutory minimum wages also significantly influence wages,” she added.
Dr Agnieszka Piasna, senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), explained that low levels of unionisation and higher levels of unemployment are likely to undermine workers’ market power.
“This has often been seen as an explanation for the low wage shares observed in many Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, which have some of the lowest unionisation rates in the EU,” she told Euronews Business.
Average salaries in purchasing power
The gap becomes smaller when measured in purchasing power standard, which means that differences in the cost of living between nations are taken into account.
One PPS unit can theoretically buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.
Full-time adjusted salaries range from 21,644 in Greece to 55,051 in Luxembourg. The ratio between the highest and lowest falls to 2.5.
Aside from Luxembourg, the highest-ranking countries are Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Austria, all over PPS 48,500.
The lowest five countries are Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Estonia, all below PPS 28,000.
Lazzari of the ILO pointed out that cost of living and price levels have an impact on wages and consequently salaries. “Countries with higher consumer price levels generally exhibit higher nominal wages,” she said.
The rankings of some countries change noticeably when comparing euro values with PPS. For example, Romania rises from 22nd to 13th, performing much better in PPS, while Estonia drops from 16th to 22nd, losing ground once price differences are considered.
If the average increase over the past five years continues, the average salary in the EU is expected to reach €41,600 in nominal terms in 2025 and €43,400 in 2026, although growth rates differ widely across countries.