Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence by country
This dataset contains series on the incidence of low-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning less than two-thirds of gross median earnings of all full-time workers; the incidence of high-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning more than one-and-half time gross median...
What the numbers show
Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence is currently reported for 37 countries. The highest value is 27.56 Percentage of full-time employment in Argentina; the lowest is 1.45 Percentage of full-time employment in Portugal.
The median across all reporting countries is 12.87 Percentage of full-time employment, and the mean is 14.28 Percentage of full-time employment.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 19.
Over the past decade 16 countries rose and 21 fell. The largest increase was in Belgium (up 241.4%), and the largest decrease in Portugal (down 87.5%).
Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Argentina | 27.56 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 11.2% | rising |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 26.31 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 55.8% | flat |
| 3 | Israel | 25.38 Percentage of full-time employment | 2023 | up 14.3% | flat |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 23.5 Percentage of full-time employment | 2023 | down 18.1% | falling |
| 5 | United States | 22.51 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 10.0% | rising |
| 6 | Hungary | 22.06 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 18.3% | flat |
| 7 | Peru | 21.25 Percentage of full-time employment | 2022 | down 15.2% | falling |
| 8 | India | 20.85 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 17.2% | falling |
| 9 | Malta | 19.91 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 45.5% | rising |
| 10 | Canada | 17.96 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 20.0% | falling |
| 11 | Australia | 17.68 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | up 14.5% | rising |
| 12 | Cyprus | 17.04 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 5.7% | falling |
| 13 | Mexico | 16.55 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 4.1% | falling |
| 14 | Czechia | 16.46 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 20.3% | flat |
| 15 | Germany | 15.15 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 15.9% | rising |
| 16 | Austria | 14.43 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 9.1% | falling |
| 17 | OECD | 13.92 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 5.7% | falling |
| 18 | Ireland | 13.1 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 23.0% | falling |
| 19 | Colombia | 12.87 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | up 1.0% | falling |
| 20 | Romania | 12.62 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 47.5% | falling |
| 21 | Switzerland | 12.4 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 4.3% | falling |
| 22 | Chile | 12.34 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 7.4% | falling |
| 23 | France | 11.69 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 62.5% | rising |
| 24 | Belgium | 11.61 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 241.4% | rising |
| 25 | Luxembourg | 11.42 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 8.0% | falling |
| 26 | Japan | 10.67 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 20.7% | falling |
| 27 | Finland | 9.88 Percentage of full-time employment | 2023 | up 8.9% | rising |
| 28 | Greece | 9.73 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 39.0% | falling |
| 29 | Denmark | 9.72 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 15.4% | rising |
| 30 | Spain | 9.51 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 4.6% | falling |
| 31 | Costa Rica | 8.84 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 40.5% | falling |
| 32 | Iceland | 7.6 Percentage of full-time employment | 2018 | up 3.6% | rising |
| 33 | Brazil | 7.06 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 66.0% | volatile |
| 34 | Norway | 6.73 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 7.4% | rising |
| 35 | Italy | 5.63 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | up 21.1% | falling |
| 36 | New Zealand | 4.99 Percentage of full-time employment | 2025 | down 64.1% | falling |
| 37 | Portugal | 1.45 Percentage of full-time employment | 2024 | down 87.5% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Croatia 21.69 Percentage of full-time employment
- Slovak Republic 16 Percentage of full-time employment
- Korea 15.83 Percentage of full-time employment
About this data
This dataset contains series on the incidence of low-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning less than two-thirds of gross median earnings of all full-time workers; the incidence of high-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning more than one-and-half time gross median earnings of all full-time workers.