Wages in long-term care and other social services 21% below average

New data from the EU Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) show that, on average, EU Member States paid their social services workers 21% less than the average national hourly earnings in 2018: this compares with 19% less than the average in 2010 and 20% less in 2014. The majority of social services workers (69.3%) work in the long-term care sector.

Earnings well below national average in all Member States

In all Member States, the average hourly earnings of social services workers are well below the average earned by all workers (see table below). The difference is smallest in the Netherlands, where social services workers earn 96% of average earnings, and in Austria and Luxembourg (both 92%). It is interesting that these countries are also among the eight Member States in which social partner agreements cover almost 100% of the long-term care workforce, as documented in Eurofound’s recent report on the employment and working conditions of this sector. The Netherlands and Luxembourg are also exceptional in having collective agreements specifically covering the long-term care sector. In all other Member States, social services workers earn at least 11% below the national average. The difference vis-a-vis the national average is greatest in Bulgaria, where social services workers earn 62% of the national average hourly earnings, followed by Estonia and Italy – both 65%.

• Publication: Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions

Table: Hourly earnings in social services (residential long-term care and non-residential care) and healthcare as a proportion of national earnings, EU Member States, Norway and the UK, 2018 (%)

Notes: This is a 2018 update of the 2010 and 2014 data in Table 5 of Eurofound’s report Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions. The data apply to all employees (including apprentices). All amounts are presented as a proportion of the average wage in NACE Rev. 2 sectors, sections B–S (except Public administration and defence; compulsory social security). Social services correspond to NACE 87 (residential long-term care) and 88 (non-residential care); SES does not allow for a breakdown of data for 88.1 (non-residential long-term care) only.

Source: Eurofound analysis of SES extraction provided by Eurostat on 26 February 2021

Domestic care work – precarious and not captured by the data

Eurofound’s report showed that, on the whole, residential long-term care provides more job security than non-residential long-term care. In addition, earnings in residential long-term care are generally better than in non-residential care, but this seems to vary. In an increasing number of Member States, average earnings in non-residential care are higher than those in residential long-term care: this was the case for 9 Member States in 2010, 11 in 2014 and 15 in 2018.

However, it should be underlined that the Structure of Earnings Survey data in the table only include employees who work for larger care providers. This means that the data, for instance, exclude domestic long-term care workers employed by private households, who tend to have the worst working conditions. Long-term care workers also work more often on a part-time basis (42%) compared with workers in healthcare (26%) or all sectors together (19%). This implies that the unfavourable hourly earnings in the table translate into even more unfavourable monthly earnings. Part-time work is most common in non-residential long-term care (52%).

Eurofound’s report further compared wages in healthcare and in long-term care. This is of particular relevance for nurses, for whom healthcare tends to be a more attractive sector. The report showed that the favourable average earnings in healthcare compared to long-term care (see table), can mostly be explained by the overrepresentation of low-paid professions (carers, social carers, assistant nurses) in long-term care. However, it also identified countries where nurses with the same skills and experience would earn more in healthcare than in long-term care.

Wages not keeping pace with increased need for long-term care workers

Overall, the share of long-term care workers has increased considerably, rising by one-third in just one decade. This rapid increase is in sharp contrast to the persistently low wages paid to these workers. There is another constant factor: most long-term care workers are women (81%), with higher rates in long-term care jobs that provide direct care. The long-term care workforce is even more female dominated than that in healthcare (75%), but slightly less than that in childcare (and other social work activities where accommodation is not involved) where 84% of workers are women. This gender imbalance could be addressed if more men were attracted to the profession. In the short term, however, improving working conditions in long-term care would have an immediate positive impact on the situation of many women (particularly those with low levels of education and earning low levels of pay) and would help to address the issue of current and future shortages.

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