According to the labour market survey of Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK, the median monthly salary of an academic engineer in permanent employment was 5,732 euros, and their average salary was 6,202 euros as of October 2024.
The corresponding salary figures for academic engineers who graduated in 2024 were 3,900 and 4,055 euros.
The median salary of an academic engineer increased by 2.4 percent from the previous year. According to Statistics Finland, the annual change in consumer prices, or inflation, was 1.1 percent as of October, meaning that salaries increased more than consumer prices over the year. There is still a lot of catching up to do, however, as real salaries fell in the previous two years.
A general increase is the most common reason for a salary increase
Of the respondents who worked full-time, 80 percent estimated that their salary had increased from the previous year. 12 percent estimated that their salary had remained the same, and three percent said that their salary had decreased.
A general increase was by far the most common reason for a salary increase. 72 percent of respondents who received a salary increase said that the reason for the increase was a general increase based on a collective agreement, which is the same for everyone.
22 percent of respondents who had received a salary increase received one based on their personal performance, which is also called a merit increase.
“This year, once again, it looks like salaries will increase only by what the trade union has agreed with the employers in collective agreements. Inflation is rampant every year and prices will rise. Relying solely on the goodwill of the employer would mean that without collective agreements, the situation would be much worse for the majority of academic engineers,” says Teemu Hankamäki, Labour Market Director of Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK.
In 2024, salary increases of around 2.5 percent were paid to employees in several sectors, some of which were part of a general increase and some of which were distributed at the discretion of the employer. However, different kinds of agreements on salary increases may also have been made regionally.
Position and sector affect salary levels
Many variables affect salary levels, such as one’s position in the company and the sector the employer operates in. The position describes how demanding the job is in general terms. On average, the more demanding the job, the higher the salary.
By sector, the highest median salaries were found in the finance and insurance, trade and construction sectors. Median salaries above 6,000 euros were also found in the telecommunications, forestry, electronics, auditing and management consulting sectors.
The lowest median salaries were found in the municipal, design and university sectors. In the university sector, the median salary of respondents was below 5,000 euros.
This is how the survey was conducted
Data collection for the labour market survey was carried out in October–November 2024, and the target group consisted of TEK members on the labour market. We received approximately 9,400 responses, and the response rate was about 21 percent.
73 percent of the respondents were men and 27 percent were women. The median age was 43 years. The most common degree completed was that of an academic engineer (Master of Science) (76 percent of respondents). The vast majority of the respondents (85 percent) worked in the private sector.