Pay and working conditions in European countries

Thinking about working in another European country? For each of 32 countries – all 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – you will find the key labour market figures, where the jobs are, how to apply, pay and working conditions, student jobs and what to do in your first weeks. General advice on job search, your CV and your rights: How to find a job abroad – 10 practical guides »

Found: 32

Austria

No statutory minimum wage. Minimum pay is set in collective agreements (Kollektivverträge) for each sector, negotiated by trade unions and employers. Check the agreement for your job before you sign – the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) explains how and has a gross-net calculator.
14 salaries a year. If your job is covered by a collective agreement, you usually get 12 monthly salaries plus a holiday bonus and a Christmas bonus. So when you compare a yearly offer, divide by 14, not 12.
Working time: normally 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week; many collective agreements set less, e.g. 38 hours. Maximum: 12 hours a day and 60 hours a week, on average 48 over 17 weeks. After 6 hours you get at least a 30-minute break, and at least 11 hours of rest between working days.
Overtime is paid with a 50% bonus (or 1.5 hours off per hour worked). Part-timers get a 25% bonus for extra hours.
Holidays: at least 5 weeks (25 working days) of paid leave a year – also for part-time and marginal jobs.
Contract: a contract can be oral, but if you do not get a written one, the employer must give you a written statement of the main terms (Dienstzettel) when you start.

Belgium

Minimum wage: the national statutory minimum wage is €2,234 gross a month (July 2026, Eurostat).
Collective agreements: pay scales (barema’s / barèmes) are agreed for each sector between employers and trade unions and set out in collective agreements (cao / CCT). They fix a minimum and a maximum salary, linked to experience and seniority. The number of your joint committee (paritair comité / commission paritaire) is on your payslip.
Holidays: a full year of work gives you 20 days of paid leave in a five-day week (24 days in a six-day week). The number of days depends on how much you worked in the previous calendar year.
Holiday pay (vakantiegeld / pécule de vacances): for blue-collar workers it is 15.38% of the gross wages of the previous year – 8% single and 7.38% double holiday pay.
Written contract: compulsory for fixed-term contracts, part-time work, student jobs and domestic work. Contracts can also be open-ended, for a specific job, for replacement or temporary.

Bulgaria

Minimum wage: €620 a month (Eurostat, July 2026). It is set by the Council of Ministers.
Working time: normally 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week (5 days). The employer can extend it by written order to up to 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week – for no more than 20 days in a row and 60 days a year.
Rest: at least 12 hours between working days, 48 hours of weekly rest and a break of at least 30 minutes. Night work (10 pm – 6 am): at most 7 hours a night.
Overtime is paid with at least 50% extra on working days, 75% on days off and 100% on public holidays.
Holidays: at least 20 days of paid leave a year – you can take it after 4 months of work.
Contract: must be in writing and signed before you start. Within 3 days the employer notifies the National Revenue Agency and gives you a copy of the signed contract and of the notification. A probation period can last up to six months.

Croatia

Minimum wage: €1,050 gross a month in 2026 – the lowest monthly gross salary for a full-time worker.
Extras: it is common practice to get 0.5% more for each year of service (usually set in a collective agreement). Some employers pay a transport allowance or a non-taxable hot meal allowance (up to €1,800 a year), and some pay a Christmas or holiday bonus.
Working time: full-time work is 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. If you work at least 6 hours a day, you get a paid break of at least 30 minutes. Daily rest: at least 12 hours; weekly rest: at least 24 hours.
Overtime is paid at a higher rate and limited to 32 hours a month and 180 hours a year.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year – you can use them after 6 months in the job. Up to 7 days of paid leave for important personal needs (e.g. marriage, birth of a child, serious illness or death in the family).
Contract: must be in writing. If the employer does not give you a written contract, it counts as a permanent one. A probation period can last up to six months.

Cyprus

Minimum wage (2026): €979 a month when you are recruited, rising to €1,088 after six months’ uninterrupted service with the same employer.
Collective agreements between trade unions and employers set pay levels in many branches; they usually run for two years.
Working time: normally 38–40 hours a week, depending on the collective agreement; no more than 48 hours a week including overtime. Overtime is paid for work outside your set hours.
Holidays: 20 working days of paid leave a year on a five-day week (24 on a six-day week), plus 14 to 17 official holidays a year.
Contract: your employer must inform you in writing of the terms of your employment – make sure you get a signed document with the main details.
Pay: usually by cheque with a payslip, or into your bank account with just the payslip.

Czech Republic

Minimum wage: CZK 22,400 a month or CZK 134.40 an hour for a 40-hour week (from 1 January 2026).
Contract: an employment contract must always be in writing, and you must receive your own copy.
Working time: at most 40 hours a week; a single shift may not be longer than 12 hours. The employer must give you your shift schedule in writing at least 2 weeks in advance.
Overtime: the employer may order at most 8 hours a week and 150 hours a year. You get your pay plus a bonus of at least 25% of your average earnings – or time off instead, if you agree on it. If the time off is not given within 3 months, the bonus must be paid.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year (5 weeks in the public sector).
Deductions: employees pay 7.1% social security and 4.5% health insurance contributions, plus income tax (see below).

Denmark

No statutory minimum wage. Pay and working conditions are usually set in collective agreements between trade unions and employers’ organisations – the “Danish model”. Ask whether your job is covered by one.
Working time: in many industries a normal full-time week is around 37 hours; it may vary with the job and sector.
Holidays: full-time employees get at least five weeks of paid holiday a year. You accrue 12.5% of your salary in holiday allowance, which corresponds to 2.08 days of holiday for every month you are employed. Holiday earned from September to August can be taken until the end of December of the following year.
Contract: if you work for at least a month and more than eight hours a week, your employer must give you an employment contract describing your conditions – usually with a reference to the collective agreement.
Tax: taxes are high, but so are wages; the system is progressive.

Estonia

Minimum wage: from 1 April 2026 it is €946 a month (gross, full time) and €5.67 an hour. Wages are paid at least once a month, as a net amount, into the bank account you name.
Working time: full-time work is 40 hours a week, 8 hours a day. Including overtime, you may work on average no more than 48 hours a week over a period of up to four months (52 hours with a separate agreement).
Breaks and rest: at least a 30-minute break for every 6 hours worked, at least 11 hours of rest in every 24 hours and 48 hours of weekly rest in a row (36 hours with summarised working time).
Overtime is paid at 1.5 times your wage, or compensated with the same amount of paid time off. Night work (10 pm–6 am) is paid at 1.25 times your wage.
Holidays: at least 28 calendar days of paid annual leave; 35 days for minors and people with reduced work capacity.
Contract: an employment contract must be in writing – signed by hand or digitally – unless the job lasts no more than two weeks. If you do not agree otherwise, the law sets a probation period of 4 months.

Finland

No statutory minimum wage. Minimum pay is set in collective agreements (työehtosopimus) for each sector, and many of them are generally binding – they apply to all employers in the sector, equally to Finnish and foreign employees. Where there is no agreement, pay must be “normal and reasonable” for that kind of work. A holiday bonus (lomaraha) is paid only if the collective agreement provides for it.
Working time: regular hours may not exceed 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Overtime needs your consent and is paid at least 50% extra. Total working time may average at most 48 hours a week over the reference period.
Holidays: for each month in which you work at least 14 days or 35 hours, you earn 2 or 2.5 days of paid holiday (the holiday year runs from 1 April to 31 March). Summer holidays are usually taken between 2 May and 30 September.
Payslip: you must always get one, showing gross pay, deductions and net pay.
Contract: it may be oral, but then the employer must give you a written account of the terms; a written contract is always recommended. A probationary period can last up to 6 months.
Sick pay: if your job has lasted at least a month, the employer pays you for the day you fell ill and the 9 days after it.

France

Minimum wage (SMIC): €12.31 gross an hour, i.e. €1,867.02 gross a month for a 35-hour week (€1,477.93 net), since 1 June 2026. The SMIC is raised every year and also automatically during the year if prices rise by at least 2%.
Working time: the legal working week is 35 hours. Maximum: 10 hours a day, 48 hours in a single week and 44 hours on average over 12 weeks. After 6 hours of work you get a break of at least 20 minutes.
Overtime (from the 36th hour): +25% for the first 8 hours a week, +50% from the 44th hour. A collective agreement can set other rates, but never below 10%.
Paid leave: 2.5 working days per month worked – 30 working days (5 weeks) a year – whatever your contract (permanent, fixed-term or temporary).
Contract: it must state your job, workplace, start date, pay, working hours, leave, notice periods and the collective agreement (convention collective) that applies.
Payslip: you are paid monthly and get a payslip with gross and net pay and all deductions.

Germany

Minimum wage: €13.90 gross an hour since 1 January 2026. It will rise to €14.60 on 1 January 2027.
Collective agreements (Tarifverträge) between unions and employers set pay and conditions in many sectors – often better than the legal minimum.
Working time: a normal full-time week is 38 to 40 hours. By law you may work up to 8 hours a working day – up to 10 hours only if the average over six calendar months (or 24 weeks) stays at 8 hours.
Breaks and rest: you may not work more than six hours without a break; a working day of more than six hours needs at least 30 minutes of breaks. Between two working days you get at least 11 hours of rest. Sunday is, as a rule, a day off.
Holidays: at least 24 working days of paid leave a year by law, counted on a six-day week – that is 20 days if you work five days a week; collective agreements and contracts often give more.
Contract: a written employment contract is the standard. Under the Proof of Employment Act (Nachweisgesetz) the employer must give you the main working conditions in writing no later than one month after you start.

Greece

Minimum wage: €920 a month for full-time employees and €41.09 a day for manual workers, from 1 April 2026 (+4.55%). You get 14 salaries a year, so Eurostat shows it as €1,073 a month spread over 12 months. The Ministry of Labour calculates that a worker over 30 without children takes home €772 a month.
Collective agreements and the National General Collective Agreement (EGSSE) can set better pay and conditions.
Working time: the normal week is 40 hours. In a 5-day week, hours 41 to 45 count as “additional work” paid at +20%; beyond 45 hours it is overtime, paid at +40%. Overtime is legal only if the employer registers it in the ERGANI system beforehand. Work on Sundays and public holidays brings a 75% bonus.
Holidays: in a 5-day week you get 20 working days of paid leave for your first 12 months (24 in a 6-day week), plus one day for each further year, up to 22 (or 26). Leave should be used by 31 December.
Contract: your employer must tell you the main terms of your job in writing.

Hungary

Minimum wage: HUF 322,800 a month in 2026 (Eurostat). A higher guaranteed minimum wage applies to jobs that require at least secondary education or a vocational qualification.
Contract: employment contracts must be in writing – this is the employer’s responsibility. The contract states your job, place of work and basic salary.
Working time: normally 8 hours a day; at most 12 hours a day and 48 hours a week.
Overtime: the employer may order up to 250 hours a year; another 150 hours are possible with a written agreement. Work on Sundays is paid with a 50% supplement.
Holidays: 20 working days of basic leave a year, plus extra days by age – 1 day from age 25, rising to 10 days from age 45. Fathers get 5 extra days when a child is born.
Deductions: 15% personal income tax (employees under 25 are exempt) and an 18.5% social security contribution are deducted from your gross pay.

Iceland

No statutory minimum wage. Minimum pay is negotiated for each sector by the social partners and can differ between sectors – but salaries and terms of employment may never be lower than in the collective agreements.
Working time: daytime work is usually 40 hours a week (173.33 hours a month); work beyond that is paid extra. On average you may not work more than 48 hours a week over a 4-month period. You get at least 11 hours of continuous rest a day, and a break of at least 15 minutes on days longer than 6 hours.
Overtime is paid per hour at 1.0385% of your monthly daytime wage. Shift work gets at least 33% extra from 17:00 to 24:00 on weekdays and 45% from 24:00 to 08:00.
Holidays: at least 2 working days for each month worked – 24 working days a year – with at least 14 days in the summer period (2 May–15 September). A holiday allowance of at least 10.17% of total wages is set aside whenever salary is paid.
Sick leave: at least 2 days for each month worked.
Contract: if your job lasts more than a month and you normally work more than 8 hours a week, you must get a written contract or confirmation within 2 months of starting. It refers to the collective agreement and states your pay, working hours, pension fund and notice period.

Ireland

National minimum wage: €14.15 an hour since 1 January 2026 for workers aged 20 and over. Younger workers get lower rates: €12.74 at 19, €11.32 at 18 and €9.91 under 18.
Working time: no more than 48 hours a week on average (usually averaged over four months). You get a 15-minute break after 4.5 hours and 30 minutes after 6 hours, 11 hours’ rest in every 24 hours and 24 hours’ rest a week.
Overtime: employers have no legal obligation to pay extra for overtime – it depends on your contract or sector agreement, although many employers pay higher rates.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid annual leave a year, plus 10 public holidays.
Contract: within 5 days of starting, your employer must give you the core terms in writing (including your pay and expected working hours); the full written statement of terms follows within one month.

Italy

No statutory minimum wage. The law does not set a minimum wage for all workers – minimum pay is set in national collective agreements (CCNL) for each sector. Check which agreement applies before you sign.
13th and 14th salary: depending on the collective agreement, you get one or two additional monthly payments a year.
Working time: normally 40 hours a week. Including overtime, you may not work more than 48 hours a week on average over a period of up to four months.
Overtime is limited and paid at a higher rate than normal hours – the details are in the collective agreement.
Rest and holidays: at least 24 hours of rest in a row every 7 days and at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year.
Contract: the employment contract is required by law and must be in writing.

Latvia

Minimum wage: from 1 January 2026 at least €780 a month for standard working time (40 hours a week). For comparison, the average gross wage in 2025 was €1,815 (€1,346 net).
Contract: the employment contract must be in writing, in two copies – one is for you. A probation period can last up to 3 months; fixed-term contracts up to 5 years.
Working time: normally no more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Overtime is only allowed if you agree to it in writing, and on average no more than 8 hours of overtime in seven days (counted over four months).
Overtime is paid with a bonus of at least 100% of your hourly or daily wage; night work with at least 50%.
Breaks and rest: if you work more than 6 hours, you get a break of at least 30 minutes, no later than 4 hours after you start. Daily rest: at least 12 hours in a row; weekly rest: at least 42 hours in a row.
Holidays: at least 4 calendar weeks of paid annual leave, not counting public holidays.
Pay day: wages are paid at least twice a month, unless you agree with your employer on monthly payments.

Liechtenstein

Working time: under the Labour Act (Arbeitsgesetz) the maximum is 45 hours a week in industry and for office staff, and 48 hours for other employees. Young people aged 15–18 may work up to 40 hours.
Breaks: at least 15 minutes after more than 5½ hours of work, 30 minutes after more than 7 hours and 1 hour after more than 9 hours.
Rest: at least 11 hours in a row every day.
Overtime beyond the legal maximum is paid with a supplement of at least 25%. Including overtime, your working week may not exceed 48 hours on average over four months.
Health insurance: your employer pays half of your compulsory health and sickness benefit insurance contributions.
Pay: check the collective agreement (Gesamtarbeitsvertrag, GAV) for your sector and your contract before you sign.

Lithuania

Minimum wage: from 1 January 2026 €1,153 a month and €7.05 an hour (up from €1,038 and €6.35).
Pay day: wages are paid at least twice a month, or once a month if you ask for it.
Working time: normally 40 hours a week. Including overtime, no more than 48 hours a week on average, 12 hours a day (without the lunch break) and 60 hours in any week. Overtime is limited to 8 hours a week (12 if you agree) and 180 hours a year.
Extra pay: overtime and night work are paid at least 1.5 times your normal rate; work on a rest day or public holiday that is not in your schedule at least twice your rate; overtime on a public holiday at least 2.5 times.
Breaks and rest: a lunch break of 30 minutes to 2 hours after no more than 5 hours of work, at least 11 hours of rest between working days and at least 35 hours of rest every seven days.
Holidays: at least 20 working days of paid leave a year (24 if you work six days a week).
Contract: every employment contract must be made in writing.

Luxembourg

Minimum wage (salaire social minimum) from 1 June 2026, age 18+: €2,771.33 gross a month (€16.0192 an hour) for unskilled workers and €3,325.59 (€19.2231 an hour) for skilled workers. You count as skilled with a vocational diploma (DAP) or at least 10 years of experience in the sector. Check whether a collective agreement (convention collective) covers your sector.
Working time: normally 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week; including overtime, never more than 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week.
Overtime is compensated with 1.5 hours of rest per extra hour – or, if that is not possible, paid at 140%. Overtime pay is exempt from income tax and most social contributions.
Holidays: at least 26 working days of paid leave a year, plus 11 public holidays.
Contract: it must be in writing at the latest on your first day of work and state the job, workplace, working hours, pay, paid leave, notice periods and any trial period. Most contracts are open-ended (CDI); fixed-term contracts (CDD) may last at most 24 months, including renewals.

Malta

Minimum wage (2026): €229.44 a week for workers aged 18 and over, €222.66 at 17 and €219.82 at 16. Most wages are paid above this rate.
Extras: every employee is entitled to the statutory bonus and weekly allowance, and all employees receive an annual pay increase linked to the cost of living.
Working time: normally 40 hours a week; on average no more than 48 hours including overtime, unless you agree in writing. Overtime above 40 hours a week is paid at 1.5 times your normal rate.
Rest: at least 11 hours in a row every day, 24 hours every week and a 15-minute break if you work more than 6 hours.
Holidays: in 2026 a full-time employee (40 hours a week) gets 216 hours of paid leave, plus 14 public holidays.
Contract: your employer must give you the written terms no later than 7 days after you start, in English and/or Maltese. Wages are paid at least once a month. Probation is usually 6 months (up to 1 year for technical, executive or managerial posts paying more than twice the minimum wage).

Netherlands

Minimum wage: from 1 July 2026 the statutory minimum wage is €14.99 gross an hour for workers aged 21 and over (€14.71 from 1 January 2026). Since 2024 there is only an hourly minimum – no fixed monthly amount. It is adjusted twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July; younger workers have lower youth rates.
Holiday allowance: at least 8% of your gross annual salary, usually paid in May or June.
Holidays: at least 4 times the number of days you work per week – 20 days a year in a five-day week. Statutory days must be taken by 1 July of the following year.
Working time (age 18+): at most 12 hours a day and 60 hours a week, on average no more than 55 hours a week over 4 weeks and 48 hours over 16 weeks. After 5.5 hours of work you get a 30-minute break; you need at least 11 hours of rest after a working day and 36 hours of uninterrupted rest a week.
Overtime is allowed within these limits and is generally paid at a higher rate – check your contract and collective labour agreement (cao).
Written information: within one month of starting, your employer must give you the main terms in writing – job, workplace, hours, salary, trial and notice period, pension scheme and the cao that applies.

Norway

No general minimum wage. Pay is set in collective agreements or agreed with your employer, but legally binding minimum wages apply in nine sectors, including construction, cleaning, electrical work, fish processing, agriculture, road freight, tour bus transport, the automotive industry and hospitality. Examples (from 15 June 2025): cleaning NOK 236.54 an hour (18+), hotels, restaurants and catering NOK 204.79 an hour (starting wage from age 20).
Working time: normally at most 9 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with at least 11 hours of rest between working days. If you work more than 5.5 hours you get a break – at least 30 minutes in total if you work 8 hours or more.
Overtime is paid with a bonus of at least 40%. Limits: 10 hours in 7 days, 25 hours in 4 weeks and 200 hours in 52 weeks.
Holidays: at least 25 working days a year (Saturdays count, so about 4 weeks and a day); you can take 3 weeks in a row between 1 June and 30 September. Holiday pay (feriepenger) is at least 10.2% (12% where a collective agreement gives a fifth week). It is earned in the year before – if you did not work last year, you have no holiday pay saved up, but you still have the right to holiday.
Contract: a written contract is compulsory for every job – permanent, temporary, part-time, casual or on-call. If the job lasts more than a month, you must have it no later than 7 days after you start.

Poland

Minimum wage: PLN 4,806 gross a month, and a minimum hourly rate (minimalna stawka godzinowa) of PLN 31.40 gross – both from 1 January 2026.
Contract: you must receive a written employment contract (umowa o pracę) – or a written confirmation of its terms – before you start work. Check which type of contract you are offered: the rules below apply to employment contracts.
Working time: up to 8 hours a day and on average 40 hours a week. Including overtime, you may work on average no more than 48 hours a week, and you are entitled to at least 11 hours of rest every day.
Overtime: at most 150 hours a year for the employer’s particular needs. You get a 100% bonus for overtime at night, on Sundays and public holidays, and a 50% bonus on other days – or time off instead (hour for hour if you ask for it, 1.5 hours per hour if the employer decides).
Holidays: 20 days of paid leave a year if you have been employed for less than 10 years, and 26 days after that. A university degree counts as 8 years towards this period.

Portugal

Minimum wage (retribuição mínima mensal garantida): €920 a month from 1 January 2026 (Decree-Law 139/2025).
14 payments a year: besides 12 monthly salaries you are entitled to a holiday allowance (subsídio de férias), normally paid before your holidays, and a Christmas allowance (subsídio de Natal, the “13th month”) worth one month’s pay, paid by 15 December. That is why Eurostat shows the minimum wage as €1,073 a month spread over 12 months.
Collective agreements can set better pay and conditions for a sector – ask which one applies to your job.
Working time: normally at most 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
Holidays: at least 22 working days of paid leave a year. In your first year you earn 2 working days per month of your contract (up to 20 days), which you can take after 6 full months of work.
Help: the labour inspectorate ACT answers questions about your rights on 300 069 300 (weekdays 9:00–12:30).

Romania

Minimum wage: RON 4,325 gross a month from 1 July 2026 (about RON 2,699 net). In construction the minimum is RON 4,582 gross. For comparison, the average gross salary in February 2026 was RON 9,272 (RON 5,557 net).
Working time: normally 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week (5 days). Maximum: 48 hours a week, including overtime.
Overtime is compensated with paid time off within 90 calendar days or with extra pay of at least 75% of your basic salary.
Night work (10 pm – 6 am): either one hour less work a day with the same pay, or extra pay of at least 25%.
Holidays: at least 20 days of paid leave a year, paid at least 5 working days before the leave starts; plus paid days off for family events (e.g. 5 days for your wedding).
Contract: must be in writing, in Romanian, and signed before you start work. The employer enters it in the General Employee Register (REGES) and must give you a signed copy before your first day. Probation: up to 90 calendar days (120 for managers).

Slovakia

Minimum wage: €915 a month, or €5.269 for each hour worked if you are not paid monthly (from 1 January 2026). Depending on how demanding the job is, there are six minimum wage levels, from €915 to €1,495 a month.
Contract: employment is based on a written employment contract. A fixed-term contract may last at most 2 years and be renewed twice; further renewals need an objective reason. A probation period of at most 3 months (6 months for managers) must be agreed in writing.
Working time: at most 40 hours a week, usually 37.5–40 hours over five days. The 30-minute break is generally not counted as working time.
Overtime: including overtime, you may work on average no more than 48 hours a week. Overtime is paid with extra money on top of your normal wage, or with time off if you agree.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year; 5 weeks if you are 33 or older or permanently care for a child.

Slovenia

Minimum wage: €1,481.88 gross a month for full-time work (1 January – 31 December 2026). Employers must pay at least the statutory minimum or the minimum set in the collective agreement (kolektivna pogodba) for their sector.
Holiday allowance (regres): once a year you get holiday pay of at least the amount of the minimum wage.
Working time: full-time work usually means 40 hours a week and never less than 36. You have at least 12 hours of rest in every 24 hours and at least 24 hours of weekly rest.
Overtime: the employer must tell you in writing in advance and pay a supplement. Maximum: 8 hours a week, 20 hours a month and 170 hours a year.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid leave a year – full-time or part-time – and at least two weeks of it in one block.
Contract: must be in writing. A probation period can last up to six months. From your first working day the employer registers you for pension and disability, health, parental protection and unemployment insurance.

Spain

Minimum wage (salario mínimo interprofesional): €1,221 a month or €40.70 a day in 2026, paid in 14 payments – €17,094 a year. Eurostat spreads this over 12 months, which gives €1,425. Temporary and seasonal workers employed for less than 120 days get at least €57.82 a day, domestic workers €9.55 an hour.
Collective agreements (convenios colectivos) often set higher pay for each sector. You get at least two extra payments a year (pagas extraordinarias), usually at Christmas and in the summer; the agreement sets the amount.
Working time: at most 40 hours a week on average over the year and normally no more than 9 hours a day. You need at least 12 hours’ rest between working days and a weekly rest of one and a half days. Overtime is limited to 80 hours a year.
Holidays: at least 30 calendar days of paid leave a year – they cannot be replaced by money.
Contract: employment contracts must be in writing (with rare exceptions). The probation period is at most 6 months for qualified technicians and 2 months for other workers.

Sweden

No statutory minimum wage. Many collective agreements (kollektivavtal) set minimum pay, often as hourly rates. Individual pay negotiation is common – new employees usually negotiate their starting salary, and pay is normally reviewed once a year. Trade unions help their members; about 70% of employees belong to one.
Working time: normally at most 40 hours a week. Overtime is limited to 48 hours over 4 weeks or 50 hours in a month, and to 200 hours in a year.
Holidays: at least 25 days of paid leave a year, including at least 4 weeks in a row in June–August. Some collective agreements give more.
Payslip: your employer must give you a written statement showing your salary and deductions.
Contract: it can be oral or written, but your employer must give you written information on the main terms – job, pay, working hours, overtime, holidays, notice periods and the collective agreement, if there is one. A probationary period can last up to 6 months.
Notice: if you resign, the notice period is at least 1 month; an employer needs objective grounds to dismiss you.

Switzerland

No national minimum wage. Five cantons have their own: Basel-Stadt, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Ticino. In Geneva it is CHF 24.59 an hour in 2026 (CHF 18.07 in agriculture and floriculture). Elsewhere, minimum pay may be set in a collective labour agreement (CLA/GAV) negotiated by unions and employers.
Pay level: the gross median wage was CHF 7,024 in 2024 – but the cost of living is also among the highest in the world.
Working time: the legal maximum is 45 hours a week in industry, offices, technical jobs and large retail stores, and 50 hours in other jobs.
Breaks and rest: at least 15 minutes if you work more than 5½ hours, 30 minutes for more than 7 hours and 1 hour for more than 9 hours. Between two working days you get at least 11 hours of rest.
Overtime is paid with a supplement of at least 25% or compensated with time off. A written contract can exclude pay for hours above your contract – but never for hours above the legal weekly maximum.
Holidays: at least 4 weeks of paid holiday a year, 5 weeks if you are under 20. At least two weeks must be taken in a row.
Contract: a written contract is recommended – ask for one.

United Kingdom

Minimum wage (from April 2026): £12.71 an hour from age 21 (National Living Wage), £10.85 at 18–20, £8.00 under 18 and for apprentices. Rates change on 1 April every year.
Working time: no more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks – but you can sign an agreement with your employer to opt out. Under-18s: at most 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
Breaks: a 20-minute break if you work more than 6 hours a day, 11 hours’ rest between working days and 24 hours off each week (or 48 hours every two weeks).
Overtime: there is no legal right to extra pay – check your contract. But your average pay for all the hours you work must not fall below the minimum wage.
Holidays: almost all workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year – 28 days if you work 5 days a week. Your employer may count bank holidays as part of it.
Contract: on your first day you must get a written statement of the main terms (pay, hours, holidays, place of work, probation); a wider statement (pensions, collective agreements, disciplinary rules) follows within 2 months.

Common questions about job applications and interviews

Key figures: Eurostat (population on 1 January 2026; unemployment and employment rates 2025; minimum wages July 2026); for the United Kingdom – Office for National Statistics; for Liechtenstein – national statistics. Country information: EURES – Living and working conditions, public employment services and the official government websites listed under each country. Rules, thresholds and amounts can change – check the official sources before you move. Updated: October 2026.

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