HELSINKI: The median of total earnings of full-time wage and salary earners was EUR 2,963 per month in 2015, according to Statistics Finland’s Structure of Earnings statistics. Besides basic pay, total earnings include all bonuses, overtime pay and benefits in kind, but not performance-based bonuses or holiday bonuses. Total earnings are in gross. Differences by level of education in median earnings were clear in 2015. The median of total earnings of full-time wage and salary earners with doctorate level education was EUR 4,907 per month, while for those with upper secondary level education, the corresponding earnings were EUR 2,625 per month as per the data.
The Structure of Earnings statistics had 242,922 full-time wage and salary earners with lower-degree level tertiary education in 2015. Their median earnings were EUR 3,077 per month—one half earned more than that and one half less than that. In another way, 121,461 wage and salary earners with lower-degree level tertiary education earned less than EUR 3,077 per month and 121,461 more than EUR 3,077 per month.
The Structure of Earnings statistics contained around 227,000 full-time wage and salary earners with higher-degree level tertiary education in 2015. Their median earnings amounted to EUR 4,042 per month. The first decile of total earnings was EUR 2,800 per month and the ninth decile EUR 6,664 per month, the statistics show. The figure indicates how many percentages of wage and salary earners belong to each category of EUR one hundred. For instance, 3.5 per cent of full-time wage and salary earners with higher-degree level tertiary education earned EUR 3,401 to 3,500 per month.
