Danish employees continue to be the best paid in Europe

The Federation of European Employers writes...

DENMARK REMAINS TOP OF THE EUROPEAN PAY LEAGUE
The Federation of European Employers (FedEE) has just published 'Pay in Europe 2004'. The report covers 46 countries and sets out median hourly wages and salaries for 30 job positions in 3 company size categories at a common reference date - February 1st 2004.

Overall country earnings range from 27.89 euros an hour in Denmark and 21.99 euros in Switzerland down to just 0.36 euros an hour in Belarus and 0.32 euros an hour in Moldova. The biggest salary increases during the last year were in Slovakia (+11.3%), Estonia (+9.8%) and Latvia (+9.6%) whilst hourly rates went down in Portugal (-1.8%) and were virtually unchanged in Switzerland (-0.3%).

An additional feature of this year's report is the inclusion of details about regional pay differences. We list regions in each country where pay levels are at least 10% below the overall country median and also regions where a region commands an additional market premium of at least 10%.

NOTE TO EDITORS
The Federation of European Employers (FedEE) is the leading organisation for international employers operating in Europe. It was founded in 1989 with financial assistance from the European Commission, and operates today on an independent basis with corporate members located throughout the world. The popular FedEE website is at http://www.fedee.com

For further information about the 'Pay in Europe 2004 report' please contact Jane Gulliver at the Federation of European Employers (FedEE) in London on (44) (0)207 520 9264 or by email on info@fedee.com