Brussels, 01/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In 2002, in the EU25, average annual earnings in industry and services were 26 800 euro. Amongst the Member States, the highest annual average earnings were recorded in the United Kingdom (36 200 euro), Luxembourg (35 000 euro), Germany (34 600 euro), Ireland (30 800 euro), Sweden (30 200 euro) and the Netherlands (30 100 euro), and the lowest in Latvia (3 200 euro), Lithuania (3 600 euro), Estonia (4 400 euro) and Slovakia (5 000 euro). In terms of Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), average annual earnings do not vary as much as in euros. were highest in 2002 in Luxembourg (34 200 PPS), Germany (33 500 PPS) and the United Kingdom (31 500 PPS) and lowest in Latvia (6 400 PPS), Lithuania (7 300 PPS) and Estonia (8 500 PPS). The comparison of earnings in PPS shows a much smaller gap between Member States than the comparison in euro. While the ratio between the Member States with the highest and lowest earnings in euro was more than ten to one, the ratio for earnings in PPS was five to one.
In the EU25 as a whole, annual average earnings for women were about three quarters those for men (21 400 euro compared to 29 900 euro). The relative differences were greatest in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Cyprus, where on average annual earnings for women were more than 30% lower than for men. The smallest differences were recorded in Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Sweden and Finland, where earnings for women were less than 20% lower than for men. But the differences observed in average earnings do not necessarily reflect a gap in pay between women and men occupying the same job with the same level of seniority and differences in the number of hours worked, linked to part-time and full-time jobs, do not affect the averages, as the figures relate to full-time equivalents.
In the EU25, annual average earnings for those with lower secondary education were 20 400 euro compared to 26 000 euro for those with upper secondary education and 41 100 euro for those having completed university education or equivalent. The relative differences between those with upper secondary education and those having completed university education were particularly high in the new Member States with the exception of Cyprus.
In the EU25 in 2002, annual average earnings were 27 100 euro in industry (excluding construction), compared to 23 500 euro in construction and 27 200 euro in services (excluding public administration). The highest earnings in industry (excluding construction) were recorded in the United Kingdom (37 400 euro) and Germany (37 000 euro), and the lowest in Latvia (3 300 euro) and Lithuania (3 600 euro). In 2002, financial intermediation recorded the highest level of earnings, with an EU25 average of 43 600 euro, with an average of 23,300 euros in the distributive trades sector.