Citadele bank economist Aleksandr Izgorodin pointed out that two years ago the average gross hourly wage in the education sector was 11.6 euros in Lithuania, 11.4 euros in Estonia and 8.2 euros in Latvia.
The latest Eurostat data on teacher salaries in European Union (hereinafter EU) member states is for 2022. At that time, information was received from 24 member states: France, Malta and the Netherlands did not provide the data.
“At that time, Lithuania was in 17th place in the comparison of the average gross salary in the education sector in the EU, Estonia was in 18th place and Latvia was ahead of Bulgaria in the penultimate or 23rd place,” said Izgorodin and added that The highest average gross salary for teachers was recorded in Belgium, where teachers earned on average 53.4 euros per hour. In second place is Ireland with a gross hourly wage of 49.2 euros, while Luxembourg is in third place with 47.6 euros per hour.
Izgorodin explained that although teacher salaries in the Baltics are relatively low compared to the European Union, the situation promises to improve significantly if the pace of salary increases of recent years continues. Specifically, in the period 2020-2022, the average salary in the education sector in Lithuania increased by 28%, followed by Bulgaria with 26% and Latvia with 22%. Estonia ranks sixth, with an average salary increase in the education sector of 12% at the beginning of this decade.
Based on the latest Eurostat data for 2022, the gross salary in the education sector in the EU was 22 euros and increased by almost 8% in 2020-2022.
“Looking at the data, the problem is not the growth rate of teachers’ salaries, but another aspect: the Baltic countries have one of the largest gaps between salaries in the education sector and other sectors. Comparing the aggregate sum of average salaries of the manufacturing industry, construction sector and service sector with the average of the education sector, starting from 2022, salaries of the education sector in the Baltics will remain lower than the aggregate sum. On the other hand , the situation is opposite in the more economically successful EU member states,” Izgorodin said.
“In Lithuania, wages in the education sector were 7.2% lower than the combined sum of average wages in manufacturing, construction and service sectors, in Latvia 14.6% lower, and in Estonia wages in the education sector were 6.6% lower than the average of the sectors mentioned. Salaries in the education sector were higher than in the sectors mentioned above, for example, in Austria (2.1%), Luxembourg (7.2%) and Belgium (60%).The main concern regarding the salary of teachers in the Baltic countries is the lag of the manufacturing, construction and service industries,” Izgorodin said.
EU Commission data shows that in 2024 Estonia’s budget deficit will be 2.4% of GDP and public debt will be 20.5% of GDP, indicators modest enough, according to Izgorodin, to leave room for Estonia. increase teachers’ salaries.
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2024-01-26 11:30:00
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