Teachers' salaries have fallen in recent years in many European countries after taking inflation into account. Euronews Business looks at these trends over time.
According to a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), teacher recruitment in secondary schools in England has only reached half of its target in 2023/24. Teaching has been ranked as the best job in the UK for 2025 by recruitment company Indeed. Teacher shortages are also a widespread problem across the European Union (EU).
Is this result surprising? Not really. This is a very complex problem with many contributing factors. The evolution of teachers' salaries in real terms offers important insights. After accounting for inflation, teacher salaries have been falling in recent years in many European countries, including England, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Finland.
So how have teacher salaries changed in Europe since 2000? Which countries have seen the largest increases and steepest declines in teacher salaries in real terms over the last decade?
Wages have fallen in almost half of the countries in eight years
According to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2024 report, among 22 countries and regions, statutory salaries for lower secondary teachers declined in real terms between 2015 and 2023 in 10 of them, with some experiencing significant declines.
The most significant wage declines were recorded in Luxembourg, where wages fell by 11 % over the period, followed by Greece by 9 % and Ireland, Finland and Italy by 6 %.
Between 2015 and 2023, wages also fell by 5 % in England, 4 % in Portugal and 3 % in Hungary.
The EU-25 average saw an increase of 4 %, while some leading EU economies such as Spain (2 %) and Germany and Italy (1 %) saw lower increases.
Turkey, on the other hand, recorded the highest increase, with teacher salaries rising by 31 %. This was followed by the Czech Republic with a 16% increase and Scotland with a 12% increase, making them the only regions with an increase of more than 10 %.
Between 2013 and 2023, a similar trend emerged. Greece (12 %) topped the list of biggest declines, followed by Luxembourg (10 %) and Ireland, Finland and Italy (7 %). Teacher salaries in England also fell by 5 % in real terms.
Teachers' salaries in Hungary increased by almost 50 % in 2014 compared to 2013, measured in US dollars. This significant increase strongly influences the results when analysing changes over time. The line graph below clearly illustrates this pattern.
While salaries in Hungary fell by 3 % between 2015 and 2023, the total increase from 2013 to 2023 was an impressive 45 %. This puts Hungary in first place in the ranking of the largest salary increases over this period, followed by Turkey with 37 %.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have seen a remarkable increase of 18 % over the last 10 years, closely followed by Scotland with an increase of 11%.
Among the largest EU economies, Germany showed the highest growth (7 %), followed by France (4 %) over the same period.
Change in teachers' salaries since 2005
If we look at changes over a longer period of time, for example between 2005 and 2023, Greece has seen a dramatic decline in teachers' salaries. Teachers in Greece have lost a third of their salaries in real terms over this period, a fall of 33 %. Significant decreases were also recorded in Portugal (13 %) and in Italy and England (both 12 %).
Although the declines were smaller, wages also fell in Spain and Finland (both by 5 %) and in France (by 2 %).
Between 2005 and 2023, there has been a significant increase in teacher salaries in Turkey, with an increase of 59 %. Turkey was followed by Poland (28 %), Germany (16 %) and Norway (15 %), albeit with a lower rate of increase.
The graphs above and below illustrate that teacher salaries began to decline in real terms in many countries after the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend is also evident in the EU-25 average.
If we look more closely at England in real terms, with 2015 indexed to 100, there is a marked decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, teachers' salaries reached 101 in 2020 and 102 in 2021 during the pandemic, but after adjusting for inflation fell to 97 in 2022 and 95 in 2023. This suggests that teachers' purchasing power has fallen in the last two years compared to the pandemic period.
According to the NFER report, 44 % more teachers said they intended to leave teaching in 2022/23 than in the previous year. In 2024/25, 10 out of 17 secondary subjects are projected to be under-recruited.
Which countries pay teachers best?
Teacher salaries vary considerably across Europe, with qualifications and experience playing a key role in the differences between countries.
According to data from the European Commission's Eurydice, annual gross statutory salaries for starting teachers in 2022/23 range across the EU from €9,897 in Poland to €84,589 in Luxembourg.
German teachers earn almost twice as much as teachers in France
Teachers in Germany (€62,322) earn almost twice as much as their colleagues in France (€32,186). Spain (€36,580) was slightly above France, while Italy (€27,079) was below.
Teachers in the EU candidate countries earn less than €12 000 a year.
Teachers' salaries adjusted for purchasing power parity
Teacher salaries expressed in purchasing power standards (PPS) allow for a fairer comparison. PPS is an artificial unit of currency that reflects the same purchasing power in all countries, meaning that one PPS can theoretically buy the same amount of goods and services in any country.
The annual gross statutory salaries of starting teachers in PPS ranged across the EU from 11 826 in Slovakia to 49 015 in Luxembourg. Differences between countries, while narrowing, still remain.
On this indicator, several EU countries reported lower salaries than some candidate countries.
The OECD has pointed out that the level of teachers' salaries is only one of several factors determining the attractiveness of the teaching profession. It stressed the importance of providing more opportunities for professional development and ensuring that the profession remains intellectually stimulating throughout a teaching career.
Jack Worth, Senior Education Officer at NFER, also stressed the urgent need for ambitious, radical and cost-effective policy measures to address the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention. "The supply of teachers is in a critical state, which threatens the quality of education for children and young people," He added.
euronews/ gnews - RoZ
PHOTO by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
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