Earnings of workers relative to the earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainment, by age group, gender and educational attainment level — Relative earnings by country
This dataset contains data on the relative earnings of workers, by age group, gender, educational attainment level and work time arrangement. The baseline is the earnings of workers with upper secondary attainment. The default table displays 2024 data (or the latest available year) on the earnings of 25-64 year-old...
What the numbers show
Earnings of workers relative to the earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainment, by age group, gender and educational attainment level — Relative earnings is currently reported for 32 countries. The highest value is 101.93 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent in Australia; the lowest is 54.05 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent in Norway.
The median across all reporting countries is 80.1 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent, and the mean is 79.87 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.
Over the past decade 18 countries rose and 14 fell. The largest increase was in Belgium (up 46.2%), and the largest decrease in Norway (down 26.6%).
Earnings of workers relative to the earnings of workers with upper: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 101.93 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 26.3% | rising |
| 1 | Poland | 91.64 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 5.8% | flat |
| 2 | New Zealand | 99.72 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 11.1% | rising |
| 2 | Netherlands | 84.14 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 7.2% | falling |
| 3 | Canada | 94.26 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | up 23.6% | flat |
| 3 | Estonia | 80.45 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 3.8% | falling |
| 4 | Spain | 89.57 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 20.5% | rising |
| 4 | Latvia | 79.53 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 5.0% | falling |
| 5 | Portugal | 87.61 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 1.5% | rising |
| 5 | Türkiye | 79.33 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 4.0% | rising |
| 6 | Finland | 85.08 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | down 14.4% | falling |
| 7 | Mexico | 84.22 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2025 | up 23.6% | rising |
| 8 | Italy | 82.83 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | down 3.9% | falling |
| 9 | United States | 82.48 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 7.1% | rising |
| 10 | Czechia | 82.3 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 2.9% | flat |
| 11 | Chile | 82.05 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 19.9% | rising |
| 12 | Costa Rica | 81.78 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 14.6% | rising |
| 13 | Sweden | 80.67 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 11.8% | rising |
| 14 | OECD | 79.76 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | up 2.9% | flat |
| 15 | Germany | 79.46 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 25.1% | rising |
| 16 | Switzerland | 79.26 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 0.3% | flat |
| 17 | Austria | 74.81 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 10.2% | flat |
| 18 | Denmark | 74.09 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 5.7% | falling |
| 19 | Hungary | 74.08 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 8.1% | falling |
| 20 | Brazil | 73.16 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | up 13.0% | rising |
| 21 | Israel | 72.23 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | down 10.5% | rising |
| 22 | Belgium | 72.07 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | up 46.2% | falling |
| 23 | Luxembourg | 70.96 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 11.6% | rising |
| 24 | Colombia | 69.63 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2023 | down 0.1% | flat |
| 25 | Ireland | 68.85 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2018 | down 7.4% | flat |
| 26 | United Kingdom | 63.96 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 16.0% | falling |
| 27 | Norway | 54.05 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent | 2024 | down 26.6% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Korea 94.2 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent
- Slovak Republic 68.65 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent
- European Union (25 countries) 79.24 Percentage of earnings of workers with upper secondary educational attainmnent
About this data
This dataset contains data on the relative earnings of workers, by age group, gender, educational attainment level and work time arrangement. The baseline is the earnings of workers with upper secondary attainment. The default table displays 2024 data (or the latest available year) on the earnings of 25-64 year-old full-time workers with below upper secondary attainment or teritary attainment as a percentage of the earnings of their peers with upper secondary attainment. The selection can be changed to display data by gender, educational attainment level, age group and work time arrangement (e.g. full- or part-time employment). Note that the baseline is the earnings of workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment for Colombia, France, Italy, Peru and Swizterland. Data refer to gross earnings except for Argentina and Türkiye. Data on full-time workers are recommended because of better comparability. Filter the time period to visualise historical data. Data for the latest available year are preliminary. Final data will be released on September 29, 2026. For more information, please consult the Education at a Glance web page and the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics: Concepts, Standards, Definitions and Classifications.