2016 state employees' monthly pay ranged from €470-5,800

State employee wages are published annually per the Civil Service Act. According to published data, the directors general of the Estonian Road Administration and the Estonian National Social Insurance Board as well as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are the country's highest paid state employees.
As of Jan. 1 of this year, there were a total of 20,050 state employees in Estonia, accounting for 70 percent of the public sector. The remainder of public sector employees were made up of contract employees and those working in the service of public authorities, such as staff, accountants and clerks.
Last year, the average monthly gross wages of state employees was approximately €1,496.
The highest monthly wages, €5,800, were earned by the director general of the Estonian Road Administration, while the lowest wages, €470, were earned by court officers at Tartu County Court.
The total number of state employees decreased 1.6 percent, or by 317, in one year, while the number of employees in the public sector on the whole decreased by 2.1 percent or 600.
Nearly half of all state employees are under 40 years of age and 53 percent are women. 66 percent of state employees have degrees; that number increases to 77 percent on the local government level.
Editor: Aili Vahtla