Public sector wage premium, by education level: Secondary education (compared to formal wage employees) by country

Countries reporting
54
Highest
0.9527 compared to formal wage employees
Zambia
Lowest
-0.4608 compared to formal wage employees
Armenia, Republic of
Median
0.119 compared to formal wage employees
Years covered
22
2000–2021
Data points
657

What the numbers show

Public sector wage premium, by education level: Secondary education (compared to formal wage employees) is currently reported for 54 countries. The highest value is 0.9527 compared to formal wage employees in Zambia; the lowest is -0.4608 compared to formal wage employees in Armenia, Republic of.

The median across all reporting countries is 0.119 compared to formal wage employees, and the mean is 0.1214 compared to formal wage employees.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 26 countries rose and 28 fell. The largest increase was in Guatemala (up 891.7%), and the largest decrease in France (down 971.4%).

Public sector wage premium, by education level: Secondary education: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Zambia 0.9527 compared to formal wage employees 2014 up 126.4% rising
2 Colombia 0.5724 compared to formal wage employees 2020 up 27.1% rising
3 Namibia 0.4499 compared to formal wage employees 2015 up 9.3% rising
4 Türkiye 0.4445 compared to formal wage employees 2010 down 1.3% rising
5 Tanzania, United Republic of 0.4212 compared to formal wage employees 2020 up 12.1% rising
6 Ecuador 0.4103 compared to formal wage employees 2017 down 26.3% rising
7 Luxembourg 0.404 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 63.6% rising
8 Costa Rica 0.3538 compared to formal wage employees 2021 up 12.8% rising
9 El Salvador 0.3426 compared to formal wage employees 2021 down 6.2% rising
10 Sri Lanka 0.3043 compared to formal wage employees 2015 down 34.4% falling
11 Pakistan 0.2853 compared to formal wage employees 2020 down 42.2% falling
12 Panama 0.269 compared to formal wage employees 2021 up 403.0% volatile
13 Cyprus 0.2628 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 12.0% flat
14 Dominican Republic 0.2533 compared to formal wage employees 2019 up 295.6% volatile
15 Uruguay 0.2415 compared to formal wage employees 2017 down 13.3% rising
16 Spain 0.2369 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 11.0% rising
17 Guatemala 0.216 compared to formal wage employees 2017 up 891.7% volatile
18 Honduras 0.2128 compared to formal wage employees 2019 up 55.9% falling
19 Ireland 0.1599 compared to formal wage employees 2017 up 28.0% volatile
20 Italy 0.1586 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 22.8% falling
21 Austria 0.1585 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 63.5% volatile
22 Australia 0.1458 compared to formal wage employees 2015 up 575.4% rising
23 Chile 0.1455 compared to formal wage employees 2015 down 10.6% falling
24 Mexico 0.1453 compared to formal wage employees 2019 down 35.7% rising
25 Greece 0.1364 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 47.2% falling
26 Switzerland 0.1293 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 306.0% volatile
27 Estonia 0.1198 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 328.9% volatile
28 Brazil 0.1183 compared to formal wage employees 2021 up 166.1% volatile
29 Romania 0.1007 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 28.3% volatile
30 Bulgaria 0.0957 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 177.2% volatile
31 Croatia 0.0809 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 62.1% falling
32 Ethiopia, The Federal Democratic Republic of 0.0758 compared to formal wage employees 2016 down 79.6% volatile
33 Serbia, Republic of 0.069 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 68.8% falling
34 Poland 0.0666 compared to formal wage employees 2017 down 67.0% falling
35 Malta 0.0661 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 227.8% volatile
36 Czechia 0.0494 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 30.9% volatile
37 Finland 0.0487 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 57.7% falling
38 Slovak Republic 0.0289 compared to formal wage employees 2017 up 27.6% volatile
39 Iceland 0.0198 compared to formal wage employees 2013 down 84.4% volatile
40 Latvia 0.0161 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 87.5% volatile
41 Bolivia -0.0229 compared to formal wage employees 2021 up 77.3% volatile
42 Argentina -0.0273 compared to formal wage employees 2021 down 198.9% volatile
43 Belgium -0.0366 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 13.3% volatile
44 Peru -0.0537 compared to formal wage employees 2021 up 68.9% volatile
45 Portugal -0.0622 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 222.9% volatile
46 United Kingdom -0.0923 compared to formal wage employees 2016 down 420.1% volatile
47 Lithuania -0.1301 compared to formal wage employees 2018 up 19.1% volatile
48 Paraguay -0.1358 compared to formal wage employees 2021 down 392.7% volatile
49 France -0.1532 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 971.4% volatile
50 Hungary -0.1577 compared to formal wage employees 2018 down 201.1% volatile
51 South Africa -0.2251 compared to formal wage employees 2019 down 203.3% volatile
52 Moldova, Republic of -0.2644 compared to formal wage employees 2012 up 2.6% falling
53 Russian Federation -0.3894 compared to formal wage employees 2016 down 128.7% volatile
54 Armenia, Republic of -0.4608 compared to formal wage employees 2021 down 233.3% volatile

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Public sector wage premium, by education level: Secondary education by country. Statizoid. Retrieved 19 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/public-sector-wage-premium-by-education-level-secondary-education-compared-to-formal-wage/

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About this data

Indicator
Public sector wage premium, by education level: Secondary education (compared to formal wage employees)
Unit
compared to formal wage employees
Source
World Bank
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
54 places, 657 data points, 2000–2021
Last refreshed