The “salary gap” in Belgium is among the smallest in Europe

The difference between the salary given to the average employee and that given to a manager in Belgium is one of the smallest in Europe and the world. This is according to a study by the Hay Group, performed using the salary database PayNet. In Belgium, “a department head earns 2.8 times more than a clerk”, the company revealed on Thursday. “This salary gap has remained the same since the economic crisis of 2008. Belgium is among the countries where the difference in pay is one of the smallest in the world”. According to the study, only Canada, Switzerland (2.5) and the Scandinavian countries (Norway with 2.5, Denmark 2.6, Sweden 2.7) have smaller salary differences than Belgium. It should also be noted that this study was performed in 63 countries, and used data from 2014. Our contact at Hay Group wasn’t available on Thursday morning to give the precise number of workers looked at in each country. Finland and Germany show a “gap” of 2.8, like Belgium. In Europe, Ukraine beats everyone with a difference of 11.4.

To compare, a manager earns 13 times more than the average worker in China, 5 times more in Singapore, and 4 times more in the United States, the firm says.

It adds that an average worker in Belgium has a relatively high yearly salary, while a manager has a “relatively modest” average yearly salary, 117,000 euros. Combined with salaries remaining at the same level since 2008, “contrary to other European countries” where they have gone down, this data explains a “relatively small” Belgian “salary gap”.

(Source: Belga)


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