Fifteen out of every hundred Maltese employees earned less than €230 a week in 2014 according to the latest statistics on income published by Eurostat.
Compared to the EU average, the proportion of Maltese low-wage earners is less than in the rest of the 28 member states, which in 2014 stood at 17.2 per cent.
However, the statistics are highly influenced by the ‘poor’ situation in former communist countries where the percentage of low-wage earners is significantly higher than the average.
According to the EU’s statistics arm, a Maltese ‘average’ employee in 2014 earned €8.50 an hour, before any payment of taxes and social security contributions. This amounted to an average annual salary of over €17,500 a year.
However, Eurostat said that in the case of 15.1 per cent of Maltese employees, their hourly pay did not exceed €5.70 an hour or less than €12,000 a year. This is higher than the minimum wage, which currently stands at €168 a week.
A Maltese average employee in 2014 earned €8.50 an hour
The statistics show that, in ‘older’ member states, workers earned more than the average Maltese employee. In Denmark, the median gross hourly payment rate stood at €25.50 an hour, followed by €20.20 in Ireland and €18.50 in Sweden.
Closer to our shore, Italian average workers got €12.50 an hour, while in the UK the average wage stood at €14.80 an hour.
On the other hand, some workers in Eastern Europe are paid much less than their Maltese counterparts.
In Bulgaria, the average hourly payment rate in 2014 was €1.70 an hour, with one in every five employees being paid €1.10 an hour.
Romanians are not much better off as on average they made €2 an hour in 2014. Still, in the case of 24 per cent, they only earned €1.4 an hour.
Eurostat’s statistics show large differences between gender and age groups regarding the proportion of low-wage earners.
In the EU in 2014, 21.1 per cent of female employees were low-wage earners, compared to 13.5 per cent of male employees.
Moreover, almost a third (30.1 per cent) of employees aged less than 30 years were low-wage earners, compared with 14 per cent or less for age groups between 30 and 59 years.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com