A total of 17.0% of all employees in the European Union were low-wage earners in 2010, according to Eurostat.

This proportion varied significantly between Member States, with the highest percentages observed in Latvia (27.8%), Lithuania (27.2%), Romania (25.6%), Poland (24.2%) and Estonia (23.8%), and the lowest in Sweden (2.5%), Finland (5.9%), France (6.1%), Belgium (6.4%) and Denmark (7.7%).

Low-wage earners are defined as those employees earning two thirds or less of the national median gross hourly earnings.

There are large differences between men and women regarding the proportion of low-wage earners. In the EU27 in 2010, 21.2% of female employees were low-wage earners, compared with 13.3% of male employees. In all Member States, except Bulgaria, there was a larger share of female employees who were low-wage earners than male.

In the EU27 in 2010, 31.3% of employees with a contract of limited duration were low-wage earners, compared with 15.7% for those with an indefinite contract. In all Member States, except Estonia and Cyprus, the pattern was the same. The largest proportions of low-wage earners among employees with a contract of limited duration were observed in the Netherlands (47.9%), Poland (42.5%), Germany (38.0%), Bulgaria (36.9%), Hungary and the United Kingdom (both 36.4%).

In the EU27 in 2010, 29.0% of employees with a low education level were low-wage earners, compared with 19.3% of those with a medium level and 5.8% of those with a high level. More than half of employees with a low level of education in Germany (54.6%) and Slovakia (51.5%) were low wage earners, and almost half in Romania (49.4%).

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