How much do people really earn in Austria? What official data reveals about salaries in 2026

Austria remains one of Europe’s most important labour markets for skilled workers, specialists and people considering an international career. Yet the popular idea of “Austrian salaries” and the amount an employee actually receives are separated by details that no single average can explain.

The GlobalTalent24 Team examined official salary data for Austria in 2026. We analysed current collective agreements, information from Austrian institutions and publicly available pay grades to establish what workers can expect in five sectors: healthcare, professional transport, construction and skilled trades, hospitality and IT.

The findings show why the question “What is the salary in Austria?” has no simple answer. In a country where collective agreements regulate much of the labour market, it matters far more which group a position belongs to, how much experience the employer recognises and which supplements come on top of base pay.

An Austrian salary is not just one monthly figure

Understanding Austrian pay requires a distinction between an average salary, median income and the minimum guaranteed by a collective agreement.

Statistics Austria, the country’s official statistical office, reports that the median gross annual income of employees who worked full time throughout the year was €55,678 in the latest complete annual data for 2024.

That does not mean the typical monthly salary is simply €4,640. Such a calculation would overlook special payments commonly described as the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries, as well as major differences between sectors, qualifications and jobs.

For anyone considering work in Austria, the amount guaranteed by the relevant collective agreement is often a much more useful starting point.

Healthcare has become one of the most valuable routes into the Austrian labour market

Few professions illustrate the changes in Austria’s labour market as clearly as nursing.

Pay for nurses depends on the institution, recognised qualification, experience, shift work and specialisation. Vienna’s public healthcare system offers a useful view of the scale of these differences.

Current figures published by the Vienna Healthcare Association, officially Wiener Gesundheitsverbund, show starting gross salaries of approximately €3,600 and above for qualified nursing and healthcare staff, plus supplements linked to the position.

More demanding roles pay more. Work in anaesthesia, intensive care and other specialist areas can push starting gross pay above €4,000 a month, while some specialised positions exceed €4,700.

For anyone whose qualification was obtained outside Austria, recognition is more important than the headline number. Regulated healthcare professions require formal recognition, and a foreign diploma and professional experience do not automatically transfer into the Austrian system.

Once a qualification is recognised, relevant previous experience may directly affect starting pay. A candidate with ten years in healthcare should not negotiate as though entering the profession for the first time.

Truck drivers: base salary tells only part of the story

Professional transport follows a different logic.

Austria’s 2026 collective agreement for freight transport sets precise minimum salaries according to vehicle type, qualification and years with the employer.

For drivers of trucks over 3.5 tonnes with no more than three axles, the collective minimum starts at €2,178.07 gross per month.

The minimum is higher for articulated vehicles and tractor trailers. For professionally qualified drivers operating such vehicles, the 2026 table ranges from €2,357.99 to €2,581.16 gross per month, depending on length of service with the employer.

For drivers, however, base salary can be the most misleading figure in an offer. Daily allowances, overnight payments, night work, overtime, Sundays, public holidays and other elements can materially change total earnings.

An advertisement promising “€3,000” is therefore incomplete unless it explains how much is base gross pay and how much is expected total income after allowances. That distinction is crucial in international transport.

Construction and skilled trades: Austria still pays for qualification

Construction has traditionally provided employment opportunities for international workers, but modern Austrian construction should not be treated as one category of physical labour.

The gap between a helper and a qualified craft worker can be substantial.

The official nationwide table for construction and the building industry, valid from 1 May 2026, shows exactly how large that gap is.

The collective minimum for a construction helper is €17.03 gross per hour, or €2,886.59 gross per month based on 169.5 working hours.

For semi skilled construction workers, the minimum ranges from €17.91 to €19.98 an hour, corresponding to approximately €3,035.75 to €3,386.61 gross per month, depending on category.

Qualified construction workers have a collective minimum of €19.99 to €21.96 an hour, or approximately €3,388.31 to €3,722.22 gross per month.

An assistant foreman, a role carrying greater site responsibility, has a minimum of €22.57 an hour, equivalent to €3,825.62 gross per month.

These figures are guaranteed collective minimums, not salary ceilings. Site allowances, travel expenses, daily allowances, shift work and overtime may increase final earnings.

Electricians, installers, welders, carpenters, technicians and other skilled workers cannot automatically be placed in the same pay category. Formal evidence of training and experience often determines whether a worker remains in a lower grade or enters the category of qualified skilled labour.

It is not enough to ask what the employer pays per hour. Candidates should verify the tariff group in which they will be classified and whether their qualification and previous experience have been properly recognised.

Hospitality: easier entry does not necessarily mean better pay

Hotels, restaurants and tourist businesses are among the most visible entry points into the Austrian labour market.

Demand for cooks, waiters, hotel staff and other workers remains important in tourism regions. But hospitality also shows the other side of Austrian pay.

No new wage agreement was reached for hotels and restaurants in 2026. The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber states that the tables effective from 1 May 2025 therefore remain binding minimum rates during 2026.

Because wage tables differ between federal provinces, there is no single number for every hospitality job in Austria. Tyrol, one of the country’s major tourism regions, provides a useful official example.

Auxiliary staff with less than ten years of sector experience can expect a collective minimum of €2,026 gross per month during the first five years with an employer.

For qualified cooks, waiters and other skilled hospitality occupations, the minimum begins at €2,165 and can rise to €2,381.50 gross per month with recognised seniority.

Roles with extended responsibility, such as chef de partie, head waiter or deputy manager, range from €2,375 to €2,612.50 gross per month.

Restaurant, kitchen or department managers with significant professional and staffing responsibility fall between €2,641 and €2,905.10 gross per month.

These are Tyrol’s collective minimums. An offer in Vienna, Salzburg, Vorarlberg or another province must be checked against the relevant regional table.

Accommodation, meals, seasonal supplements and overtime can materially affect the value of an offer. A slightly higher gross salary is not automatically better than a package that includes good accommodation, especially in tourist areas where housing is a major expense.

IT shows how far Austrian salaries can rise

At the other end of the market is IT.

Austria’s 2026 collective agreement for information technology shows a range rarely seen in traditional service occupations.

The abbreviations in the agreement refer to job families rather than job titles. ZT covers central activities, ST1 and ST2 cover special activities at two levels, and LT covers leadership roles. Classification reflects complexity, independence and responsibility.

The lowest ZT category starts at €2,236 gross per month.

In ST1, the entry minimum is €3,267, the standard level €3,954, and the experienced level €4,476.

ST2 starts at €4,061, rises to €4,611 at the standard level and reaches €5,444 gross for experienced employees.

The highest LT category begins at €5,301. Its standard level is €6,059, while the experienced collective minimum reaches €6,781 gross per month.

This does not mean every programmer in Austria earns six or seven thousand euros. It shows how much the actual work matters.

The agreement does not classify an employee according to an attractive title on a business card. Tasks, autonomy, complexity and responsibility determine the group. Asking which collective agreement category applies can be worth hundreds or even thousands of euros a month.

Why the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries change the calculation

Austrian pay is often compared with other countries by placing two monthly gross figures side by side. The problem is that a monthly figure may not show total annual earnings.

Many collective agreements provide special payments commonly known as the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries, usually holiday pay and a Christmas payment.

They are not an automatic universal right merely because someone works in Austria. The Austrian Chamber of Labour, officially Arbeiterkammer, explains that entitlement, amount and payment date depend on the collective or individual employment agreement.

When two full additional monthly payments apply, the annual difference is substantial.

A gross salary of €3,000 corresponds to €42,000 across 14 payments. At €4,000, annual gross pay is €56,000. At €5,000, it reaches €70,000.

Annual gross income is therefore more useful than an isolated monthly number when comparing jobs.

The most important number is often not the one in the advertisement

The same labour market contains collective minimums just above €2,000 and specialist positions with guaranteed minimums above €6,000 gross.

The difference is created not only by profession, but by qualification, experience, responsibility, tariff group, working time, supplements and the applicable collective agreement.

For people arriving from abroad, another factor may be decisive: what Austria and the future employer recognise from the qualifications and experience they already possess.

Ten years of experience do not have the same value if a candidate accepts an entry classification that ignores them.

Before signing a contract, workers should therefore know not only the salary, but how it was determined. Which agreement applies? Which group covers the position? Is previous experience recognised? How many annual payments are made? Which supplements are included? Is the figure base salary or expected total earnings?

The answers can be worth more than a few hundred euros of difference between two advertisements.

Austria rewards what is difficult to replace

The GlobalTalent24 analysis of official 2026 data shows a labour market that is not equally accessible to everyone, but is relatively clear about what it values.

Qualification has a price. Experience has a price. Specialisation has a price. Responsibility has an even higher price.

The most useful question is therefore not how much people earn “in Austria”, but how much the Austrian labour market values what a particular person knows how to do.

That answer can separate a job that merely makes life in Austria possible from one that makes relocation or career development financially worthwhile.

Official sources

The GlobalTalent24 Team used primary Austrian sources. Collective agreement figures are legally and contractually relevant minimum rates for the stated categories, not claims about the average market salary of every employee.

The sources include the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, officially Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, Statistics Austria, the Austrian Chamber of Labour, the Vienna Healthcare Association and the official 2026 IT collective agreement.

Construction wage table: https://www.wko.at/kollektivvertrag/lohnordnung-baugewerbe-bauindustrie-arbeiter-2026

Hospitality collective agreement and regional tables: https://www.wko.at/tourismus-freizeitwirtschaft/serviceplattform-gastronomie-hotellerie/kollektivvertrag

Statistics Austria annual income data: https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/einkommen-und-soziale-lage/jaehrliche-personeneinkommen

Austrian Chamber of Labour information on holiday and Christmas payments: https://www.arbeiterkammer.at/beratung/arbeitundrecht/Arbeitsvertraege/Urlaubsgeld_und_Weihnachtsgeld.html