Only a few EU countries met the deadline for the Pay Transparency Directive. Indeed’s data shows possible changes in the share of job postings that include salary information.
A significant majority of Europeans do not know how much they would be paid when they apply for a job because salary information is not included in the job advert. Applicants spend considerable time and effort on an application, <a href="https://warsaw.today/korean-air-dallas-ho-chi-minh-vietnam-896-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/” title=”Korean Air: Dallas – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. $896. Roundtrip, including all Taxes”>including attending interviews. In some cases, they also take practical skills tests.
However, they may still not know the salary until the recruitment process is successful. They may also have little idea of what other people in the same workplace are paid.
This can lead to pay discrimination and a wider gender pay gap, according to the European Commission. To address these issues, the EU adopted the Pay Transparency Directive. The deadline for implementing the directive was 7 June this year. However, most EU countries have failed to meet it.
Italy is the only country among the major European economies to have implemented it. The result is very clear, according to global hiring platform Indeed. The share of job postings containing salary information in Italy rose from 26% in July 2025 to 61% in July this year.
Italy now has the highest share of job adverts with salary information among the five largest European economies.
“Italy is emerging as a frontrunner on pay transparency among large economies in Europe, and the data suggests regulation is making a real difference,” Pawel Adrjan, director of economic research at Indeed, told Euronews Business.
According to a PwC article published in early August, only five EU member states had transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive. They are Italy, Slovakia, Malta, Lithuania and Greece, as of November.
Spain has made limited progress, while Germany has delayed implementation until early 2027. France’s position is still ‘not specified’.
While the UK is no longer an EU member, it has had the highest share of job postings with salary information on Indeed since the data began in early 2020. In January 2020, the share was 40% in the UK, while France had the second-highest share at 20% among the five largest European economies plus the Netherlands.
Italy overtakes the UK for the first time
In July 2026, Italy overtook the UK on pay transparency for the first time among these six countries, at 61% compared with 60%.
The other four countries are still below 50%, with the Netherlands at 49.5%.
In two major European economies, the share of job postings that include salary information is below 20%: Germany at 14% and Spain at 18%. The figure is 43% in France.
The change in Italy over the last year is remarkable. In July last year, only a quarter of job postings (26%) included salary information
“The share of Italian job postings advertising salary information has jumped from 35% in January to 61% in July, accelerating after the June implementation of the EU’s pay transparency directive,” Adrjan said.
“Italy has gone beyond the EU directive by requiring employers to put the pay range directly in the job advertisement, giving jobseekers access to this information even before they decide whether to apply.”
Pay transparency accelerated once the law took effect
Adrjan also emphasised in his social media post that the increase began before the deadline, as some employers moved ahead of the new rules. “Pay transparency then accelerated once the law took effect,” he wrote.
Employers must now state the starting salary or pay range in the job description, not just disclose it to candidates at some point during the hiring process.
It is not expected to reach 100% due to the scope of the directive. For example, in Italy, a few job types are excluded, and some legal details around enforcement are still being debated.
Adrjan points out that while not all postings contain salaries yet, as employer practices catch up, the trend is unmistakably upward.
Women are paid 11% less than men
The gender pay gap in the EU was 11.1% in 2024 This means that when men earn €100, women earn €88.9 on average
“The next test will be whether other European countries can deliver the same shift from the principle of transparency into practice,” Pawel Adrjan said.
He highlighted how transparency is still lagging across Europe, as many legislatures delay transposing the regulations into national law for the time being. In some countries, the current expectation is that stating pay ranges in job advertisements will ultimately not be required.
“Betrayal of working women”
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) general secretary, Esther Lynch, said that the failure to meet the deadline is a betrayal of working women.
“Pay secrecy hands all the power to the employer and leaves women and their trade unions without the basic information they need to stand up for themselves,” she said.
ETUC research found that women working in the EU lose €358 billion a year because of the gender pay gap. This amounts to almost €3,900 per woman.
Source: www.euronews.com
