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Hourly earnings of fixed-term employees about 15 per cent lower than those of permanent employees in 2011

According to Statistics Finland’s Structure of Earnings statistics, the hourly earnings of fixed-term employees were around 15 per cent lower than those of permanent employees in 2011. The Structure of Earnings statistics for 2011 included 1,050,556 employees with permanent employment relationships. There were 168,913 wage and salary earners with fixed-term employment relationships. During the past good decade, very little changes have taken place in the ratio of earnings, as in 2000 an employee with a fixed-term contract earned about 17 per cent less per hour than an employee with a permanent contract.

Average hourly earnings of wage and salary earners by employer sector in 2011

Labour market sector	Permanent employees	Fixed term employees	Difference, %
Local government	17,56	16,18	8 %
Central government	22,15	20,22	9 %
Private sector	19,11	15,69	18 %
Total	18,92	16,12	15 %

The relative number of fixed-term employees is higher in the public sector than in the private sector. In the public sector, 19 per cent of wage and salary earners had a fixed-term employment relationship. The corresponding figure for the private sector was ten per cent. Compared to the public sector, the hourly earnings of fixed-term employees are, however, clearly lower than those of permanent employees in the private sector.

Average hourly earnings of wage and salary earners by employer sector and gender in 2011

Employer sector	Women		Men
	Permanent	Fixed term	Permanent	Fixed term
Local government	16,76	15,66	20,61	18,42
Central government	20,45	19,41	23,77	21,27
Private sector	17,05	14,89	20,68	16,61
Total	17,10	15,47	20,82	17,27

The influence of the type of employment relationship on pay varies by sex. The difference between the hourly earnings of permanent and fixed-term employees is eight percentage points, i.e. one-half, smaller among women than among men. The phenomenon is quite similar to that in respective comparisons of different sectors. The majority of wage and salary earners working in fixed-term employment relationships are women, but the influence of the type of employment contract on hourly pay is smaller among women.

Source: Structure of Earnings 2011, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mika Idman 09 1734 3445, Jukka Pitkäjärvi 09 1734 3356, palkkarakenne@stat.fi

Director in charge: Kari Molnar

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Updated 19.10.2012