(source: Sme)
Among EU members, the lowest salaries are in Bulgaria (€325), Romania (less than €400) and Lithuania (less than €500) – but that data comes from 2013, according to Poštová banka.
Also Poles and Hungarians earn less than Slovaks, the SITA newswire quoted the analysis: the former earn about €30 less per month and the latter €130 less in average net salary. Hungarian payroll taxes and levies are even higher than in Slovakia. Czechs, on the other hand, earn €60 per month more on average – €726. Croatians, Estonians and Slovenians also earn more than Slovaks.
From among neighbouring countries, Austria has the highest salaries - €2,320 per month on average. From among the whole EU, Luxembourg leads in total, with €3,188 in average, followed by Sweden with average net salary of €2,826, and UK with €2,810. The absolute top in Europe is Switzerland, where last year, the net average monthly salary amounted to €5,131. For comparison, the average net salary was the equal to €2,361 in the United States, and in Japan €2,269.
Poštová banka analysts warn that it is always necessary to consider the price level in the respective country and the cost of living – both are higher in Western Europe than in Slovakia. Life is most expensive in the north of Europe, especially in Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg and Finland.
