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SALARY

What wages can you expect when working in Denmark?

Danish salaries are the highest in the European Union -- and given the prices, some would say they need to be. We looked at what jobs pay the most.

Published: 30 October 2020 13:25 CET
Updated: 8 November 2020 11:23 CET
What wages can you expect when working in Denmark?
All of this lovely wonga could be yours. Photo: Mads Nissen/Ritzau Scanpix

According to Eurostat, Danish labour costs €44.7 an hour, considerably more than in neighbouring Sweden or Germany. 

Note that this figure does not separate wages from the overall labour cost – that data was not available in 2019, according to Eurostat.

 

But which jobs earn the most?

The Local made a spreadsheet using data for 2019 salaries downloaded from Statistics Denmark (here's where you can get the raw data), and analysed it to find out.  

Top managers earn the most 

It shouldn't come as a surprise that top executives pull in the most pay, although they do earn a lower multiple of the average salary than their counterparts in the UK or US. 

According to Statistics Denmark, chief executives in 2019 earned on average 104,896 kroner (€14,000) a month, or about 1.3m kroner a year (€170,000).

Presumably the heads of Danish giants like Lego or Maersk are earning quite a bit more than that. 

What about the rest of the board? 

Those on the next rung down in the corporate hierarchy earn about three quarters of what their bosses do. 

Somewhat surprisingly, advertising and public relations managers earn more than IT managers and finance managers, at 79,324 kroner a month or 952,000 a year, compared to 79,249 kroner and 951,000 kroner for IT and 78,956 kroner or 947,472 kroner for the finance head. 

Sales managers earn slightly less, 75,535 kroner a month or 906,000 kroner a year, and human resources managers earn less still at 73,000 kroner a  month or 877,051 kroner a year. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, restaurant managers can't expect the same pay levels as other managers, earning on average 42,170 kroner a month. 

Which non-management jobs pay most? 

If boardroom battles aren't your thing, you can still earn a lot in Denmark. Aircraft pilots earn almost as much as chief executives, banking on average 99,424 kroner a month or 1.2m kroner a year. 

Specialist medical practitioners are also highly paid, drawing 91,125 kroner a month, or about 1.1m kroner a year, compared to 71,514 kroner a month or 860,000 kroner a year for doctors on average. Dentists do less well, earning 61,874 kroner a month or 742,498 a year. 

Air traffic controllers are also among the top earners, drawing in 70,281 kroner a month or 843,372 kroner a year.

According to the database, pharmacists earn on average 67,425 kroner a month or 809,100 kroner a year, which seems strangely high (perhaps it includes people working more generally in Denmark's highly successful pharmaceutical sector). 

City jobs are comparatively less well-paid than in the UK or US, with securities brokers and dealers earning 65,967 kroner a month or about 791,604 kroner a year, financial analysts 66,206 kroner a month or 794,472 kroner a year, and finance professionals in general earn 59,532 kroner a month or 714,384 kroner a year. 

Lawyers earn on average 65,089 kroner a month, or 781,000 kroner a year.

Software developers also earn less than you might expect, taking home 57,973 kroner a month or 695,676 kroner a year on average. 

Engineers also do quite well, earning 59,089 kroner a month on average. The highest earners among them are chemical engineers and electrotechnology engineers on 67,365 kroner a month and 61,460 kroner a month respectively. 

Ships' engineers earn 62,348 kroner a month, electrical engineers earn 60,794 kroner a month, and mechanical engineers earn 60,415 kroner a month. 
 
The worst paid engineers are civil engineers and industrial engineers on 57,994 kroner and 56,855 kroner a month respectively. 
 
 
What are the worst paid jobs? 
 
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that farm labourers are the lowest paid in Denmark, earning 22,693 kroner a month or about 272,316 kroner a year. 
 
Bartenders are also pretty much at the bottom, earning 24,361 kroner a month. They earn less, in fact, than “food service counter attendants” at places like McDonalds, who earn on average 25,494 kroner a month. Waiters earn slightly more, taking home on average 26,908 kroner a month. 
 
You can earn a bit more cleaning offices, a job that pulls in on average 28,254 kroner a month, although domestic cleaners earn just 26,465 kroner a month. 
 
Fast food preparers earn more than their counter attendant colleagues, pulling in on average 28,690 kroner a month. 
 
Being a travel guide might be a fun job, but it's also a poorly paid one, with guides on average earning 28,349 kroner a month. 
 
Working in retail is slightly better paid, with shop salespersons earning 28,773 kroner a month on average. 
 
The highest paid non-management restaurant workers are chefs, who earn 37,795 kroner a month on average. Ordinary cooks earn on average 30,879 kroner a month. 
 
Taxi drivers earn on average 28,959 kroner a month, while bus and tram drivers can earn 31,601 kroner a month, heavy truck drivers 32,308 kroner a month, and train drivers can earn 45,371 kroner a month. 
 
Hairdressers and beauticians earn on average 33,403 kroner a month, with hairdressers earning the most. 
 
The creative professions 
 
Just like everywhere else, the creative professions tend to pay less well, although they earn a better wage in Denmark than in some other countries. 
 
Dancers and choreographers get paid 35,733 kroner a month on average, visual artists 38,806 kroner a month. Performing artists do a bit better, earning 43,590 kroner a month. 
 
Photographers earn 40,550 kroner a month on average.
 
Journalists earn 50,019 kroner on average a month (which is a lot more than this journalist!), and advertising professionals earning 50,303 kroner a month. 
 
Architects earn slightly more, but perhaps less than you would expect, pulling in 51,162 kroner a month on average. 
 
What about teaching? 
 
Teachers' pay in Denmark is less dreadful than in a lot of other countries, with primary school teachers earning 43,627 kroner a month, secondary school teachers earning 49,152 kroner a month and university teachers earning as much as 49,152 kroner a month. 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Member comments

    1. Salaries in scandinavian countries are allways written as before tax (gross) , when published in newspapers and generally speaking.Its in the scandinavian culture to allways say your salary before taxes, maybe to attract foreigners here.

      Denmark has in average 55% tax because of all the extra taxes and fees. You have to calculate -40% tax in average on income after deductions. You will also pay in average over 200% tax on new cars, but it can be less, if you lease the car, if you are the kind that wants to drive a new car all the time. If you like used cars then you are fine, this is not a culture where showing off wealth is possitive. Do not think you are better then anyone is a unwritten rule.

      As a foreigner you will most likely ony get work in nightlife(taxi, bartender, restaurants, cleaning, driving jobs, labor jobs), if you do not speak danish perfectly and/or do not have a education that makes you very needed and wanted (specialist, programmer etc). I am a a norwegian citizen, born in sweden, but ended up in Denmark because i married someone here.

      Denmark has one of the biggest black economies in the world because of the high taxes. The taxes do include healthcare, but not dental. Its basic healthcare, its typical for a scandinavian doctor to say everything is fine and send you off after 5 mins. If you want a prescription on something specific, you have to pay a private doctor very often.

      Copenhagen people are more open minded and more friendly to foreigners then in other parts of Denmark, but Copenhagen is a extremely expensive city.

      Danes are generally direct, and you can easily feel that everyone is rude, but its just the culture to be direct. You don’t walk around the bush. This is my experience as a male, you do get used to it, and in many ways it makes work more efficient, but socially danes are not very welcoming to foreigners who do not speak danish perfect.

      Danish is very hard to speak perfectly. You will be told if you are good at your job or not pretty fast very directly, and it’s a national sport to get fired. I have been fired 5-7 times and i have lived here for 3 years. Alcohol is cheap compared to Norway where there is 60-80% tax on alcohol. My job life became stable when i started working as a taxi driver which is what happens to many foreigners who work here. After 1991 , try and hire is a normal way to hire people and fire them fast if they are not fit for the job or efficient enough after the companies standards. Unions are very common, they make the salaries higher, but the work life is hard generally speaking.

      I have worked in Sweden, Norway, Canada and the US. Denmark is a hard place to live the firs year. If you do not believe what i am writing, come and live here. I will not argue. You are welcome to try the danish life. You will maybe earn more, but be careful with spending, its not a cheap country.

  4. Looking at the median income instead of the average salary will give a much better picture of the normal salary here.

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For members

WORK PERMITS

EXPLAINED: How to apply for a work permit in Denmark as an intern

Want to intern at the elite restaurant Noma, at the architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, as a vet or as a nurse? Here's what you need to know.

Published: 28 March 2024 14:51 CET
EXPLAINED: How to apply for a work permit in Denmark as an intern

Denmark has a special scheme for foreigners offered work in the country as interns, with different rules for those employed in architecture, healthcare, farming or veterinary jobs, or other sectors such as the natural sciences, technical fields, the pharmaceutical sector, or culture.

As an intern, you can get a permit to work in Denmark and a residency permit without having to earn any salary whatsoever, let alone secure the generous pay levels required to qualify for the Pay Limit Scheme. 

But you do have to meet the conditions put in place, to prevent unscrupulous employers using the internship permit to bring low cost labour to the country. 

You can find an English language guide to internships on the website of the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (Siri). 

READ ALSO: Danish work permit agency changes practice for hotel and restaurant interns

Who is eligible to get a work permit as an intern? 

You need to be between the ages of 18 and 35 (or 18 and 30 for some sectors), and you normally need to be studying a relevant subject in your home country or current country of residence .

In some cases you can already have recently graduated and in some cases you can be studying a subject not related to the internship, but if this is the case you need to show that you have passed a semester’s worth of courses in a relevant subject. 

If your internship is unpaid, you normally need to show that you have at least 6,820 kroner a month to support yourself over the period.

If your internship is paid, your salary must be at least 6,820 kroner per month, which has to be stated in the standard contract, and paid into a Danish bank account in a bank operating legally in Denmark.

Be aware that opening a Danish bank account can be difficult, with applicants normally needing to have a Danish address and CPR personal number. If you are having trouble you can apply for a basic payments account.

What qualifications do I need to show or paperwork do I need to provide? 

The rules are different depending on which sector you intend to carry out your internship in. 

Agricultural, horticulture, forestry or veterinary 

If you plan to intern in the agricultural, horticulture, forestry or veterinary sectors, you need to show that you have passed a language test in English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or German at the A2 level or higher, in Common European Framework of Reference for Languages scale.

This is a very basic level, described in the CEFR as enough to communicate “very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment”. 

For English language tests offered by IELTS, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) accepts test scores from 3.0, and for English tests from TOEFL, scores at Studieprøven level (C1 CEFR level). You will need to send the results certificate along with your application. 

To qualify for an internship in these sectors you also need to be studying a relevant subject in your home country, or the country where you have residency, and the internship also needs to be timed to coincide with where you are in the course, for instance as a practical element following more theoretical ones. 

“We compare the content of your educational programme with the job tasks which you will be carrying out during the internship,” Siri writes in its guide to internships. 

You cannot be more than 30 years old for an internship in these sectors. 

Interns in these sectors do not need to provide proof that they can support themselves. 

Healthcare 

There are no language requirements for an internship in the healthcare sector, and for medical interns there is no upper age limit (although an age limit of 35 applies for other healthcare interns). 

The internship must be related to the educational programme you are studying in your home or another country, and you need to submit an authorised translation of the list of courses you have studied, along with your application. 

You can receive an internship in healthcare even if your studies have recently been completed, but you must show that the internship is a continuation of your studies and relevant to the future role you intend to take on. 

If you have completed your studies, you should include documentation of any work experience you have had since completing your studies. 

If your internship is unpaid, you need to show that you have at least 6,820 kroner a month to support yourself over the period, which you can document with a bank statement or a copy of a scholarship certificate. It is not enough for someone else, such as a parent, to say they will support you. 

Architecture 

To be eligible for a work permit in the architecture sector, you cannot have completed your education and cannot be more than 35 years old. 

The internship must be related to the educational programme you are studying in your home or another country, and you need to submit an authorised translation of the list of courses you have studied, along with your application. 

If your internship is unpaid, you also need to show that you have at least 6,820 kroner a month to support yourself, which you can document with a bank statement or a copy of a scholarship certificate. It is not enough for someone else, such as a parent, to say they will support you. 

Which employers are eligible to take interns?

Employers need to be approved to take interns, either through a prior praktikpladsgodkendelse, or “place of internship approval”, or through sending detailed documentation to Siri on what the internship will consist of, including details of who will be supervising the intern, and prior experience the firm has with taking on interns or trainees. 

All public hospitals in Denmark are approved as places of internship.

If you are planning on interning at a Danish architecture firm, the firm must use the standard “Internship Agreement and Guidelines” issued by DANSKE ARK, the Danish association of Architectural Firms, and the Danish Union of Architects and Designers.

Architecture firms do not need to receive a separate praktikpladsgodkendelse but when filling in the standard contract, need to state the number of fully-trained architects and number of interns working at the firm. 

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