Low-wage earners One out of six employees in the EU27 was a low-wage earner in 2010 Large differences between men and women, levels of education and types of contract

Reference: STAT/12/189 Event Date: 20/12/2012

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STAT/12/189

20 December 2012

Low-wage earners
One out of six employees in the EU27 was
a low-wage earner in 2010
Large differences between men and women, levels of education and types of contract

The proportion of low-wage earners among employees amounted to 17.0% in 2010 in the EU27. This proportion varied significantly between Member States, with the highest percentages observed in Latvia (27.8%), Lithuania (27.2%), Romania (25.6%), Poland (24.2%) and Estonia (23.8%), and the lowest in Sweden (2.5%), Finland (5.9%), France (6.1%), Belgium (6.4%) and Denmark (7.7%).

Low-wage earners are defined as those employees earning two thirds or less of the national median1 gross hourly earnings2. Hence, the thresholds that determine low-wage earners are relative and specific to each Member State.

These data come from a publication3 issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on the latest results of the four-yearly Structure of Earnings Survey4. This survey provides detailed information5 on the structure and the distribution of earnings in the EU.

Low-wage earners: 21% of female employees, 13% of male…

There are large differences between men and women regarding the proportion of low-wage earners. In the EU27 in 2010, 21.2% of female employees were low-wage earners, compared with 13.3% of male employees. In all Member States, except Bulgaria, there was a larger share of female employees who were low-wage earners than male. The highest proportions for women were registered in Cyprus (31.4%), Estonia (30.1%), Lithuania (29.4%), Germany and Latvia (both 28.7%) and the United Kingdom (27.6%), and the smallest in Sweden (3.1%), France (7.9%), Finland (8.0%) and Denmark (9.8%).

…29% of employees with a low level of education, 6% with a high level…

The level of education plays an important role: the lower the level, the higher is the likelihood of being a low-wage earner. In the EU27 in 2010, 29.0% of employees with a low6 education level were low-wage earners, compared with 19.3% of those with a medium6 level and 5.8% of those with a high6 level. More than half of employees with a low level of education in Germany (54.6%) and Slovakia (51.5%) were low wage earners, and almost half in Romania (49.4%).

…31% of employees with a fixed term contract and 16% with an indefinite contract

The type of contract also has a significant impact. In the EU27 in 2010, 31.3% of employees with a contract of limited duration were low-wage earners, compared with 15.7% for those with an indefinite contract. In all Member States, except Estonia and Cyprus, the pattern was the same. The largest proportions of low-wage earners among employees with a contract of limited duration were observed in the Netherlands (47.9%), Poland (42.5%), Germany (38.0%), Bulgaria (36.9%), Hungary and the United Kingdom (both 36.4%).

Proportion of low-wage earners by sex, level of education and type of contract, 2010

* Expressed in national currency, the low wage thresholds are per hour: BG: BGN 1.98; CZ: CZK 74.77; DK: DKK 123.85; LV: LVL 1.35;
LT: LTL 6.19; HU: HUF 631.14; PL: PLN 10.51; RO: RON 5.50; SE: SEK 94.71; UK: GBP 7.21; IS: ISK 1080.34; NO: NOK 133.16;
CH: CHF 20.58;MK: MKD 102.02; TR: TRY 2.83.

** Euro area (EA17): Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The European aggregates are calculated without Greece.

- Data not applicable

: Data not available

Median earnings is the level of earnings which divides the employees into two equal groups. Half earn less than the median and half earn more.

1. Gross hourly earnings refer to the remuneration earned by employees before any tax and social security contributions are deducted, per hour worked in the reference month of October 2010. These exclude any overtime pay, shift premiums, allowances, bonuses, commission, etc. The 2010 annual averages of the exchange rate were used in converting earnings in national (non-euro) currencies into euro.

2. Eurostat, Statistics in Focus 48/2012 "In 2010, 17% of employees in the EU were low-wage earners", available free of charge in pdf format on the Eurostat web site.

3. The Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 (SES 2010) covers enterprises with at least 10 employees in all economic activities except agriculture, forestry, fishing, public administration and defence, private households and extra-territorial organisations (NACE Rev. 2 classification: sections B to S excluding O). More information on SES2010 can be found at:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/labour_market/earnings

2. Users can access detailed estimates of hourly wages depending on personal and employment details by means of a "Salary

Calculator": http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Salary_calculator

3. Data are classified according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED): low education corresponds to ISCED levels 0-2 (pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education); medium education corresponds to ISCED levels 3 and 4 (upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education) and high education corresponds to ISCED levels 5 and 6 (tertiary education).

Eurostat news releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat