Most major European economies are far from ready for the upcoming EU pay transparency rules, with new data suggesting salary disclosure in job adverts remains patchy and, in some cases, stagnant.
Research from Indeed shows wide variation in how openly employers advertise pay across Europe, with Germany and Spain among the least transparent major labour markets.
Just 12pc of job postings in Germany include salary information, compared with 17pc in Spain. The UK leads surveyed countries at 56pc, followed by the Netherlands (48pc), France (43pc), Ireland (39pc) and Italy (36pc). Even in the most transparent markets, however, pay is still omitted from a significant share of listings.
The findings come ahead of the implementation deadline for the EU’s pay transparency directive, agreed in 2023, which requires member states to introduce national legislation to improve salary transparency in recruitment and to tackle gender and structural pay gaps.
However, most large economies have yet to complete the legislative process needed to implement the rules. France is unlikely to meet its parliamentary timetable before June. Germany has not yet introduced legislation, despite expert recommendations being published in late 2025. The Netherlands has pushed implementation to 2027.
Italy and Ireland are among the more ambitious adopters, with draft laws going beyond the minimum requirements by mandating that salary information be included directly in job advertisements rather than disclosed later in the hiring process.
The UK, which is no longer part of the EU framework but is included in the comparative data, shows the highest level of transparency among major economies, although its rate has fallen from nearly two-thirds of postings to just over half in the past year.
Where pay information is provided, details vary significantly. Most employers opt for ranges rather than fixed salaries, with exact figures relatively rare. The UK leads in precision, with 32pc of salary-transparent postings providing exact pay, followed by Spain and France at 24pc each. Italy and the Netherlands lag behind at 10pc and 8pc, respectively.
The type of role also plays a major role in transparency. Hourly-paid jobs are consistently more likely to include clear pay information. In Spain, 53pc of hourly postings specify exact pay, compared with just 21pc of salaried roles.
Range widths also differ markedly across countries. In the UK, median hourly ranges sit about 11pc above the lower bound, while annual salary ranges are wider at 17pc. Italy shows the greatest dispersion, with median monthly salary ranges stretching around 50pc above the lower figure.
Despite uneven employer practices, jobseeker demand for transparency is strong across Europe. Surveys show that between 61pc of respondents in Germany and 82pc in Ireland say they are more likely to apply for jobs that include salary ranges. Support is even higher for mandatory disclosure in job ads, with up to 83pc backing the idea in some countries.
Women are consistently more supportive of pay transparency than men, with 73pc saying they would be more likely to apply for a job listing a salary range, compared with 67pc of men.
The data suggests that while regulatory pressure is increasing, market practice remains uneven — setting up potential friction between upcoming EU requirements and long-established hiring norms across much of Europe.
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