Cyprus Mail 16 December 2020 - by Staff Reporter
In 2018, 18.7 per cent of employees in Cyprus were low-wage earners, according to figures published by Eurostat on Wednesday.
Low wage earners are those that earn two thirds or less of their national median gross hourly earnings. The EU average for 2018 was 15.3 per cent, compared to 16.4 percent in 2014.
The proportion of low wage earners varied significantly among Member States in 2018. The highest share was observed in Latvia (23.5 per cent), followed by Lithuania (22.3 per cent), Estonia (22.0 per cent), Poland (21.9 per cent) and Bulgaria (21.4 per cent).
At 18.7 per cent, Cyprus was ninth on the list, just below Ireland.
In contrast, less than 10 per cent of employees were low-wage earners in Sweden (3.6 per cent), Portugal (4.0 per cent), Finland (5.0 per cent), Italy (8.5 per cent), France (8.6 per cent) and Denmark (8.7 per cent).
As regards the distribution by age group, EU-wide low-wage earners accounted for more than a quarter (26.3 per cent) of employees aged less than 30. The proportion of low-wage earners in the older age groups was much less, at 13.9 per cent in the 50 and above age group and 12.6 per cent in the 30-49 age group.
The lower the level of a person’s education, the higher the likelihood of being a low-wage earner. More than a quarter (27.1 per cent) of employees in the EU with a low education level were low-wage earners. Fewer employees with a medium level of education were low-wage earners (18.0 per cent of employees), while low-wage earners accounted for just 4.6 per cent of employees with a high education level. For employees whose contract of employment was of limited duration, 28.1 per cent were low-wage earners, compared with 12.8 per cent of those with an indefinite contract.
