Wages and Labour Costs - International Comparison
Negotiating wages is one of the main tasks of the trade unions. In most countries the topic for negotiation is the worker's gross wage. Usually contributions to the welfare insurance are deducted from this wage as well as any other deductions under special agreements. Usually the deductions are calculated as a percentage of the gross wage.
We did not set up a table to show income tax. Taxation often varies depending on the overall income, marital status, number of children, etc. So a general statement on the level of taxation is not possible. For more detailed explanations refer to the texts.
The worker's gross wage is often also the basis for calculating the employer's share of welfare insurance contributions. This is mostly a percentage which the employer has to calculate to get to the employer's gross wage. General administration costs to be borne by the employer have not been taken into account.
In the framework of this survey we asked the experts to define and describe the collective agreement guideline as far as there was no uniform regulation for a country. The reference worker is a qualified worker with two years of professional experience.
The third part of the Table describes how collective agreements are actually used in companies (reach). The data are estimates made by the unions, a verified empirical study is not available. On the one hand we checked Compliance of employers with agreed wages, i. e. what percentage of employers pay wages as agreed. On the other hand we show the percentage of workers earning the agreed wage.
| Employer | Worker | Reach | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross | Welf. Ins. | Other | Gross | Welf. Ins. | Other | Employer | Worker | |||
| Status: 01.01.2007 | Source: own surveys | ||||||||||
| AT | 8,08 € | 20,06 % | 1,53 % | 6,85 € | 17,20 % | 0,75 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||
| BE | 11,45 € | 55,00 % | 9,93 € | 15,30 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| BG | 0,93 € | 65,00 % | 0,69 € | 35,00 % | 125 | 6 % | ||||
| CH | 10,00 € | 21,00 % | 8,00 € | 20,00 % | ||||||
| CY | 4,71 € | 12,50 % | 0,50 % | 4,19 € | 12,50 % | |||||
| CZ | 3,93 € | 35,00 % | 3,49 € | 12,50 % | 320 | 50 % | ||||
| DE | 10,80 € | 17,70 % | 8,95 € | 20,37 % | 0,30 % | 40-50 % | 60 000 | |||
| DK | 15,30 € | 6,75 % | 14,27 € | 7,25 % | 30 % | 20 000 | ||||
| EE | 2,65 € | 33,50 % | 1,59 € | 8,33 % | ||||||
| ES | 4,44 € | 15,50 % | 4,00 € | 11,00 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| FI | 9,33 € | 35,00 % | 8,80 € | 6,00 % | 85 % | 100 % | ||||
| FR | 10,83 € | 43,15 % | 8,27 € | 25,50 % | 5,40 % | > 50 % | ||||
| GB | 9,59 € | 12,80 % | 8,60 € | 11,50 % | ||||||
| GR | 4,43 € | 10,00 % | 3,80 € | 16,66 % | ||||||
| HR | 3,37 € | 17,20 % | 2,82 € | 19,50 % | ||||||
| HU | 2,54 € | 32,00 % | 1,50 % | 2,17 € | 17,00 % | 50 % | ||||
| IE | 9,52 € | 0,00 % | 8,50 € | 12,00 % | ||||||
| IS | 7,35 € | 8,00 % | 7,00 € | 5,00 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| IT | 7,46 € | 43,23 % | 6,87 € | 8,54 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| LT | 3,68 € | 31,00 % | 3,57 € | 3,00 % | ||||||
| LU | 14,19 € | 14,45 % | 12,40 € | 14,45 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| LV | 1,09 € | 24,09 % | 1,00 € | 9,00 % | ||||||
| MT | 3,82 € | 10,00 % | 3,47 € | 10,00 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| NL | 11,80 € | 21,00 % | 11,11 € | 6,00 % | 0,20 % | |||||
| NO | 13,00 € | 16,00 % | 13,00 € | |||||||
| PL | 1,71 € | 19,89 % | 1,34 € | 27,71 % | 47 % | 80 % | ||||
| PT | 2,89 € | 23,00 % | 2,60 € | 11,00 % | ||||||
| RO | 2,76 € | 19,75 % | 2,17 € | 9,50 % | 17,75 % | |||||
| SE | 35,00 % | 10,35 € | 2,00 % | |||||||
| SI | 5,90 € | 15,00 % | 4,84 € | 22,00 % | 100 % | 100 % | ||||
| SK | 2,81 € | 35,20 % | 2,46 € | 13,40 % | 1,00 % | 67 % | 63 % | |||
| TR | 3,84 € | 20,00 % | 3,37 € | 14,00 % | 35 000 | |||||
Wages and Labour Costs