In Switzerland, top jobs generate an average gross wage of € 55 an hour. Denmark comes second, with a salary of 51 euros an hour. This is evident from a report issued by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office.
Switzerland and Denmark are the only two European countries with higher average wages exceeding 50 euros an hour.
Managers
In Switzerland, even in the lowest-paid categories, there is still more than 25 euros an hour. Denmark and Norway are the only other European countries with average hourly rates in excess of 20 euros in this category.
At the European level, managerial positions generate an average wage of € 28.6 an hour. Professionals come second, with a salary of 21.4 euros, followed by technicians (17.8 euros), military personnel (14.9 euros) and administrative personnel (14.2 euros).
At the bottom are the elementary occupations (9.7 €), preceded by factory workers (11.5 €) and sales staff (11.2 €).
The researchers note that “on average, the higher-wage groups in Europe have wages that are nearly three times higher than the lower-wage categories.” The wage gap is bigger in Cyprus. There, managers charge an hourly wage of 31.7 euros, while elementary occupations charge 6.3 euros an hour.
“This means that the hourly wages in the higher categories are five times higher than the hourly wages in the lower-wage groups.”
Bulgaria
“Denmark has the smallest wage gap in all of Europe, with 50.9 euros and 22.2 euros,” the researchers say. In Belgium, top wages are roughly € 40, compared to around € 12 in the lower wage categories.
At the highest wages, followed by Switzerland, Denmark and Luxembourg (49 euros), Iceland (48 euros) and Norway (56 euros). Bulgaria closes the dispute with 8 euros, preceded by Lithuania (9 euros) and Romania (10 euros).
In the lower wage categories, the allowance in Bulgaria drops to barely 2.5 euros. In most of the other member states of the ex-communist eastern bloc and Portugal, these amounts do not exceed the 5 euro limit.
(NS)
