Luxembourg had the highest average annual wage in Europe in 2023, at approximately 89,700 U.S. dollars when adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP). Greece, which had an average annual salary of less than 30,238 U.S dollars a year, had the lowest among the countries provided in this statistic.

Wages In the Euro Area increased 4.10 percent in December of 2024 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Wage Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Average net earnings in the European Union was 26,136 Euros for a single person with no children in 2022, while for a couple with children who both worked it was 55,573 Euros. Among countries in Europe, Switzerland was the country with the highest net earnings in 2022, followed by Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway. The lowest net earnings were found in Bulgaria and Romania, where a single person without children earned on average less than 9,000 Euros in 2022.

Wages In the Euro Area increased to 2574 EUR/Month in the third quarter of 2024 from 2549 EUR/Month in the second quarter of 2024. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Average Monthly wage per person - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Net annual earnings for a single earner family with two children in the European Union have increased from 25,434 euros in 2013 to 33,939 euros over the period from 2013 to 2023. Net earnings received a boost during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, in spite of gross earnings decreasing in 2020, due to reduced taxes and increased family allowances.

This statistic shows a forecast for the development of the real wages in the member states of the European Union in 2024. In 2024, the real wages in Romania are forecasted to increase by 5.9 percent compared to the previous year.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey (MWSS) is the main source of information for three key indicators of Short-Term Earnings generated by the Office for National Statistics: the Average Earnings Index, the Average Weekly Earnings and the Index of Labour Costs per Hour.

The MWSS is distributed monthly to approximately 8,800 businesses and covers around 12.8 million employees. Companies are required to respond under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. Businesses are selected from the Inter-Departmental Business Register. Every company with more than 1,000 employees is surveyed. Sampling is random for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees. The MWSS does not cover businesses with fewer than 20 employees, and so the very smallest businesses in the economy are not represented. The self-employed and government-supported trainees are also not surveyed.

The major strength of the MWSS is that it provides comprehensive information on earnings, by industry. In terms of industrial coverage, information on all industries is collected, as defined by the Standard Industrial Classifications (1992). Information on both the public and private sectors is available.

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Latest edition information
For the forty-second edition (February 2025), four monthly data files for July to October 2024 have been added to the study.

Main Topics:

The survey measures commission, bonuses, overtime and pay award arrears, in addition to pay. The survey also collects data on the number of employees on the payroll. The measures are the sums for each company, and are not subdivided by occupation or by individual workers. The survey excludes redundancy payments and benefits in kind.

The data files have been processed to include average weekly pay data and all of the processing variables such as grossing factors and grossed values.

This dataset provides values for WAGE GROWTH reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Nominal wage growth in both the European Union and the Euro currency area (comprising 20 of the 27 EU members) reached a record high in the second quarter of 22, when wages increased by 5.7 and 5.6 percent respectively. This trend continued during 2023, with a wage increase of 5.7 and 5.2 percent during the third quarter of 23. Nominal wage growth is the increase in wages compared to the same period the previous year in nominal values - i.e. in monetary values unadjusted for inflation. As inflation in Europe increase faster than nominal wages during this period, this in fact meant that real wages (increases adjusted for inflation) fell.

As of 2023, the average annual wage of Germany was 48,301 euros per year, a growth of almost 6,000 Euros when compared with 2000. From 2000 until 2007, wages rose by less than a thousand euros, with wage growth accelerating mainly in the period after 2010. Comparisons with rest of the EU Within the European Union Luxembourg had an average annual salary of almost 80 thousand Euros, with Germany having an annual salary comparable to other large European Countries, such as the United Kingdom and France. In neighboring Poland, the average annual salary was just over 39 thousand U.S dollars, meaning that German’s earned, on average, 20 percent more than what their Polish counterparts did. German economy slowing in 2023 While Germany initially had one of the strongest recoveries from the 2008 financial crash and as of 2020 had the largest economy in Europe its economy has started to slow in recent years. For 2023 the German economy is contracted by 0.26 percent, and while 2024 marked a slight improvement, the expectations are that 2025 remains a year of slow growth.

According to a 2024 survey, people employed in middle-level jobs in the gaming industry had a considerably higher median annual salary across categories in Europe compared to their non-European counterparts. For example, the median annual salary in game programming and development was 47,000 euros in Europe, compared to only 27,800 euros outside of Europe, a decrease of more than 40 percent. The difference was even larger in the analytics area, where the European median salary of 45,614 euros was more than three times the salary in non-European regions.

The country with the highest minimum wage rate in Europe during the first half of 2025 was Luxembourg, with a minimum wage of 2638 euros. Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany were the countries with the next highest minimum wages, all above 2000 euros a month, while Albania, Bulgaria, and Montenegro had the lowest minimum wages in the same period.

The average annual net earning for an individual in the European Union was 28,000 Euros in 2023, an increase of over 2000 Euros since 2022. The average earning figure may not represent what a normal person earns in the EU, however, as this figure is skewed by regions and individuals which earn higher amounts.

Over this 23-year period, annual wages in Spain fluctuated greatly, ranging from a low of 28,685 euros in 2006 to a high of approximately 31,910 euros in 2009. The average annual wage stood at approximately 30,655 euros in 2023. Compared to other European countries, Spain ranked fairly low in 2022. The annual salary in the Iberian country was similar to salaries in Italy and Slovenia, but remained far from the figures that were registered in France, Ireland and Germany. Minimum wage Spain's minimum monthly wage was 1,134 euros as of 2024. Unlike the average annual wage, it has been constantly increasing on a nearly continuous basis since 2008, when the minimum wage was 600 euros per month. In 2019, the Socialist government of Spain passed a law by that increased the national minimum wage by 164 euros, therefore making it stand at 900 euros per month and reflecting the largest increase to date. Along with the monthly wage, the national minimum daily wage has also been raised consistently over the past years. In 2024, the gross minimum was 37.8 euros a day, whereas in 2000 it was 20 euros a day. Unequal pay The average salary in Spain diverges considerably according to different factors. For instance, the gender salary gap remains significant in the Mediterranean country, although it has shrunk in recent years. In 2021, the average salary for a male full-time employee was around nine percent higher than his female counterpart. The gender gap is even wider for permanent positions: that year, average annual salaries for women were roughly 6,000 euros less than average salaries for men. The salary gap is also conspicuous when looking at the wage for workers with disabilities, a gap that has increased in recent years. Geographic location is also important; the average net salary in regions such as Extremadura and the Canary Islands was less than 23,100 euros per year in 2022, far from the salary in the Basque Country and Madrid (32,300 and 31,200 euros, respectively).

Revenue is forecast to fall at a compound annual rate of 5.4% over the five years through 2024. Volatile demand conditions and fluctuations in input prices have had mixed impacts on revenue and contributed to revenue volatility. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, natural gas prices soared. Manufacturers were initially forced to absorb these costs at the expense of profitability, producers were later able to pass these costs onto customers, supporting revenue and giving some respite for bottom lines. As well as rising input prices, supply chain disruptions led to a fertiliser shortage, driving prices upwards. In 2024, revenue is expected to dip by 5.1% to €45.2 billion. Although price increases have supported revenue, downstream markets, primarily farmers, have increased the efficiency of their fertiliser use. This has led to farmers reducing their total consumption of fertiliser, somewhat offsetting increased prices. Fertiliser manufacturers have increasingly invested in their operations to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs. This has included investing in automation to reduce emissions and labour reliance, especially due to the significantly high average wage. Over the five years through 2029, revenue is forecast to expand at a compound annual rate of 1.6% to reach €48.9 billion. Population growth will continue to fuel increased demand for agricultural products, requiring farmers to increase their yields and support the demand for fertilisers. However, growing environmental awareness will somewhat hinder demand. The number of organic farms will continue growing as the EU works towards its target, though some of this demand will be turned to organic fertilisers.

Over the period observed, the average monthly gross salary in the Polish national economy increased annually and reached 8,181.72 zloty in 2024. Salary changes in Poland Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Poland's average real wage and salary have been growing steadily. In December 2024, average gross wages reached a growth of 9.8 percent. The monthly salary at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 in the national economy amounted to 9,413 zloty and in the enterprise sector — 6,528 zloty.Since 2003 the minimum wage has increased from 800 zloty to 4,666 zloty as of January 2025. As a result, Poland ranked second in Central and Eastern European countries in terms of the minimum wage in 2024. Employment in Poland In 2023, nearly 15.2 million people were working in Poland, and the employment rate has increased by 15.4 percentage points since 2010. As a result, Poland also registered one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union. The average level of unemployment in the EU in 2023 was six percent. In Poland, it was 2.8 percent.Poles have the average duration of working life in the European Union, working on average 35.2 years. For comparison, the EU average amounted to 36.9 years. However, they are among the busier nations in Europe, working an average of 39 hours per week in the fourth quarter of 2023.In the first quarter of 2024, 73 percent of Poles were satisfied with their jobs. And the main reasons for changing employers were salary and the dissatisfaction with the current employer.

Denmark is the European country with the highest top statutory income tax rate as of 2024, with the Nordic country having a top taxation band of 55.9 percent. Other countries with high taxes on top earners included France, with a top rate of 55.4 percent, Austria, with a top rate of 55 percent, and Spain, with a top rate of 54 percent. Many countries in Europe have relatively high top income tax rates when compared with other regions globally, as these countries have relatively generous social systems funded by tax incomes. This is particularly the case in Western, Northern, and Central Europe, where the social state is generally stronger. On the other hand, formerly communist countries in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region tend to have lower top income tax rates, with Romania and Bulgaria having the lowest rates in Europe in 2024, with their top income tax brackets both being only 10 percent. These countries often have less well-developed social systems, as well as the fact that they must compete to retain their workers against other European countries with higher average wages. In spite of low-income taxes, these countries may take other deductions from employee's wages such as pension and healthcare payments, which may not be included in income taxation as in other European countries.

In 2024, the Baltic states were expected to have the highest average gross salary in the ICT sector among the presented subregions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). ICT salaries were forecast to increase in all subregions in that year.

The median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was 18.72 British pounds in 2024, compared with 17.48 pounds in the previous year. At the start of this provided time period, in 1997, the average hourly wage in the UK was 7.92 pounds per hour, rising to more than ten pounds per hour by 2003, and above 15 pounds per hour by 2020. Minimum and living wage in the UK In the United Kingdom, employers are expected to pay their employees a minimum wage that is determined by how old they are. Under 18s for example, had a minimum wage of 5.28 British pounds in 2023, with the figure increasing to 7.49 pounds those aged 18 to 20, 10.18 for 21 to 22 year old's, and 10.42 for those aged 23 and over. There is also a voluntarily paid living Wage that employers can choose to pay their workers. For the 2023/24 financial year this was twelve pounds an hour, rising to 13.15 pounds an hour for workers based in London. Icelandic the highest earners in Europe Iceland had the highest average annual wage in the Europe in 2022 at around 79,500 U.S dollars. This was followed by Luxembourg at 78,300 dollars, Switzerland at 72,990 and Belgium at 64,850 dollars. The United Kingdom’s average annual wage amounted to around 53,985 U.S dollars in the same year. In this year, the country with the lowest annual salary in Europe was Greece, at 25,980 pounds per year.

In the three months to December 2024, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 5.9 percent, while pay including bonuses also grew by six percent, when compared with the same period in 2023. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 2.5 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.