17% of full-time employees in the EU are low-wage earners

In the EU-27, 17% of full-time employees were low-wage earners in 2006. This category included 23% of female full-time employees, 28% of those with a low level of education, 31% of those having a fixed-term contract and 41% of those working in hotels and restaurants. The percentage of full-time employees who were low-wage earners was between 6% (Finland) and 31% (Latvia). This publication analyses in more detail the structure of low-wage employment in Europe. Also when looking at average gross earnings per hour, wide variations around the average of €13.38 per hour were reported in the EU in 2006. On average, hourly wages of persons with tertiary education were twice as high as those with lower education. Gross hourly earnings of women were 17.6% lower than for men in 2007 (this relative difference is known as the gender pay gap).

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