Checking the paycheck

What are the jobs that make good money? Which sectors pay the highest salaries? What is the impact of the place of work on wages and salaries? And from what age do you earn more than the average Belgian?

Answers can be found in the gross monthly earnings of October 2009:

• 10% of all employees earn maximum € 1,945 per month.
• 50% of all employees earn less than € 2,639 per month.
• 10% of all employees earn minimum € 4,474 per month.
• Managers have the highest paychecks, whereas the average wages and salaries are lowest for waiters, bartenders, hairdressers and beauticians.
• The petrochemical industry pays the highest salaries; hotels, restaurants and pubs pay the lowest salaries. The latter, however, have seen the strongest salary increases in terms of percentage since 1999.
• Brussels is the arrondissement with the highest salaries, whereas on average employers in the arrondissement of Dinant pay the least.
• Employees in the Ostend arrondissement have seen their paychecks increase the highest in terms of percentage since 1999. This increase was lowest in the arrondissement of Neufchâteau.
• In general, from the age of 37 Belgians earn more than the national average.
• The impact of the financial crisis on wages and salaries was limited. Only starters saw the figures on their paychecks shrink.