Social services pay as a proportion of national average pay, by Member State, 2022 and change since 2018 (%)

Data visualisation

Green indicates an increase of 2 or more percentage points, red a decrease of 2 or more percentage points and yellow a change either way of 2 or less percentage points compared with national average pay; (absolute) mean hourly wages decreased in Greece and Malta only.

Source: Eurofound’s analysis of EU-SES data, extracted June 2025

Identifier: WwSnv

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2 October 2025

A decade of low pay: Social services workers still earn around one-fifth less than the average

In the 10 years from 2014 to 2024, the number of social services workers in the EU increased from 8 million to 10 million. They now make up 5% of the total EU workforce. At the same time, the sector is facing labour shortages and continues to be characterised by low pay – around 20% less than the average pay in Member States’ economies as a whole.

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