Regular monthly earnings1 were 635 thousand ISK in 2021. For full time employees, regular monthly earnings were 711 thousand ISK and the median 637 thousand ISK. More employees received regular monthly earnings below the amount of average earnings (63%), mainly because collective agreements set minimum wage rates but no maximum wages.
Mean total monthly earnings for full-time employees were 823 thousand ISK in 2021 and about one fourth of employees received total earnings below 600 thousand ISK. Every other male had total monthly earnings over 800 thousand ISK but one-third of females. Full-time male employees received more paid hours on average than full-time female employees, as the paid hours for men were 180.7 per month on average in 2021 but 173.8 for women. More paid hours on average for males explains partly why males have higher total earnings than females.
Highest earnings among directors and chief executives
Wage comparison between occupations2 shows that directors and chief executives had the highest earnings on average, more than 2 million ISK per month in 2021. Judges, medical doctors, finance and sales associate professionals, ship and aircraft controllers and technicians, and senior government officials are examples of occupations where total monthly earnings were more than 1.5 million ISK on average. Lowest monthly total earnings, on average, were in the occupations of child-care workers, about 471 thousand ISK, and among library, mail and related clerks, 484 thousand ISK.
Distribution of total earnings smallest among clerks
In the year 2021, total monthly earnings by occupational group ranged from 582 thousand ISK for general, machine and specialized workers to 1,285 thousand ISK for managers.
Distribution of total earnings in occupational groups was different, which can be explained by various occupations within each occupational group, as is the case with managers, which includes both chief executives and department managers. While every other manager had total earnings between 800 and 1,300 thousand ISK, every other general worker had total earnings between 400 to 650 thousand ISK per month.
Distribution of total earnings was smallest among clerks and the most common total wages were between 600 to 650 thousand ISK per month, with 17% of clerks receiving that amount. About every fourth craft worker had total earnings over 1 million ISK per month in 2021 and one-third of service workers had total earnings below 500 thousand ISK. One out of five technicians had total earnings between 650 to 750 ISK per month and more than one-fourth of specialists had total earnings below 700 thousand ISK.
About the statistics
A set of comprehensive data series on earnings for the Icelandic labour market for the years 2014-2021 has been published. Information contains earnings by occupational group, sectors and economic activities. In addition, information for more than 200 occupations are published. The statistics for 2021 are preliminary but previous statistical publications for the year 2020 have been revised.
Results are based on the Icelandic Survey on Wages, Earnings and Labour Costs and cover over 94 thousand employees. The survey is a stratified sample survey including legal units with 10 or more employees and data are weighted according to the survey design. The survey covers most of the Icelandic labour market even though certain economic activities are missing. More on the survey and methods can be found in metadata on Statistics Iceland‘s website.
During the year 2019 and 2020, new collective agreements were signed which stipulated, amongst other things, a flat rate wage increase and shortening the working hours. Furthermore, an opportunity to abolished coffee breaks was included. The shorter working hours came into action in the beginning of 2020 in the private sector and 2021 in the public sector. The shortening of the working hours does not affect monthly earnings, but it affects paid hours which are also published. From 2019 paid hours have decreased, both due to the shortening of the working hours and decreased overtime hours.
1 Regular earnings for part-time employees are full-time equivalent.
2 Occupations for full-time employees which are publised on Statistics Iceland‘s website.