Salary of Assistants in grade AST 5

Salary of Assistants in grade AST 5

This article shows how much Assistants in grade AST 5 step 1 can expect to earn in the European Commission. The information directly applies also to the European Parliament, European Council, EU agencies and all other EU institutions. The article presents the full remuneration package: not only the basic salary, but also allowances and other benefits. It also shows the impact of location and the Correction Coefficient on your take-home pay.

Basic salary vs. full remuneration package

The monthly ‘basic salary’ for assistants AST5 in the European Commission and other EU institutions ranges from EUR 5011 to 5669. The starting basic salary will always be the lower number, but you can get ‘reclassified’ or get promoted.

Reclassification‘ is the automatic advancement through the European Commission salary scales by one step every two years (see table below to assess the financial impact on your basic salary). ‘Promotion‘ based on good professional performance in the EU context means that you not only get a good evaluation in the annual ‘appraisal’ process, but are also made to skip several salary scale steps or even a grade at once. Promotion has the most significant impact on your income, if you remain in the same job.

At the same time, knowing your ‘basic salary’ in most cases does not tell you much about your final take-home pay. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, the basic salary in most cases constitutes between 50-100% of your total remuneration package depending on whether you entitled to the various allowances. This is especially so if you have children, a spouse or/and are an expat.

Secondly, the country you are employed in has a significant impact on your total salary due to the ‘Correction Coefficient‘. Brussels is used as reference and there the Correction Coefficient is 100% of basic salary as quoted below. If you work for an EU agency in Scandinavia, your salary and allowances will upped by 18-31% to compensate for higher living costs. Conversely, if you will work for the EU in Bulgaria, you will get only 55% of what your Brussels colleague doing the same job gets.

Assistants’ remuneration by family and residence status

Below is a sample salary and take-home pay calculation of an Assistant in grade AST5 step 1 for four common scenarios in Brussels, Belgium.

Situation 1Situation 2Situation 3Situation 4
Single Belgian national with no childrenMarried Belgian national with two childrenSingle Italian national with no childrenMarried Italian national with two children
Assistants AST 5
Basic Pay5011501150115011
Household allowance02960296
Dependent child allowance08580858
Expatriation allowance00987987
Pension contribution-506-506-506-506
Health insurance contribution (JSIS coverage)-85-85-85-85
Accident insurance contribution-5-5-5-5
Tax-166-166-166-166
Special levy-59-59-59-59
Correction coefficient100%100%100%100%
TOTAL REMUNERATION
if employed in Brussels
4190534451776331
European Commission Assistants AST5 step 1 salary and allowances: full remuneration package calculation (2022)

N.B. These calculations are only indicative as they are based on public sources. Only your institution’s HR department will be able to calculate a 100% accurate figure once you provide all necessary documents.

On top of the above, any children would either be guaranteed a place in the local European School, or an Education Allowance for each child. The expat family would also get around 1000 EUR annually per family member as a Travel Grant considering the distance to Rome.

European Commission 2022 salary scale for Assistants AST5

GradeStep 1Step 2Step 3Step 4Step 5
65 669,295 907,536 155,766 327,036 414,44
55 010,725 221,275 440,675 592,055 669,29
44 428,644 614,724 808,644 942,435 010,72
Basic salary scale for Assistants AST5 compared to AST4 and AST6. Source: Staff Regulations, Article 66

Impact of Correction Coefficient on Assistants AST5 basic pay

The below table shows you the actual Assistants AST 5 basic pay according to the correction coefficient by location of your institution. You should also read a dedicated article about the Correction Coefficient to understand the details.

LocationEU institutionCorrection CoefficientAdjusted basic salary EUR
Amsterdam, NetherlandsEMA111.45582
Barcelona, SpainF4E96.34826
Berlin, GermanyEU Delegation101.45081
Bilbao, SpainEU-OSHA96.34826
Bratislava, SlovakiaELA79.94004
Brussels, BelgiumEuropean Commission, European Parliament, European Council, EDA, SRB1005011
Bucharest, RomaniaECITRCC68.53433
Budapest, HungaryCEPOL, EIT76.13813
Cologne, GermanyEASA96.94856
Copenhagen, DenmarkEEA134.26725
Dublin, IrelandEUROFOUND133.66695
Frankfurt am Main, GermanyECB, EIOPA96.94856
Hague, NetherlandsEurojust, Europol111.45582
Helsinki, FinlandECHA118.65943
Heraklion, GreeceENISA85.24269
Karlsruhe, GermanyJRC96.94856
Lefkosia, CyprusEU Delegation82.24119
Lisbon, PortugalEMSA, EMCDDA91.44580
Ljubljana, SloveniaACER84.94254
Luxembourg City, LuxembourgEuropean Commission, Eurostat, CDT, Court of Auditors1005011
Madrid, SpainEU Delegation96.34826
Munich, Germanyn/a113.45682
Parma, ItalyEFSA91.24570
Paris, FranceEBA, ESMA119.96008
Prague, CzechiaEGSA88.14415
Riga, LatviaBEREC804009
Rome, ItalyEU Delegation95.24770
Sofia, BulgariaEU Delegation61.73092
Stockholm, SwedenECDC130.36529
Tallinn, Estoniaeu-LISA86.34324
Thessaloniki, GreeceCEDEFOP85.24269
Turin, ItalyETF91.24570
Valletta, MaltaEUAA944710
Varese, Italyn/a91.24570
Valenciennes and Lille, FranceERA119.96008
Vienna, AustriaFRA109.65492
Vigo, SpainEFCA96.34826
Vilnius, LithuaniaEIGE80.14014
Warsaw, PolandFrontex70.63538
Zagreb, CroatiaEU Delegation78.33924
Basic Pay of European Commission Assistants AST5, adjusted by the Correction Coefficient

Take into account that your allowances will also be adjusted by the Correction Coefficient. If you will work not in Brussels, but in another EU location, you should multiply the grand total values in the “scenarios table” to get the actual approximate figure.

Allowances and other benefits for EU institutions staff

Several allowances and other benefits can quite significantly boost an EU official’s income. This largely depends on whether the person is an expat and has a spouse and/or children. When considering a job at an EU institution, people too often do not take these benefits into account. Important – these benefits are available to Administrators in grades AD 5-16, Assistants in grades AST 1-11, Secretaries and Clerks in grades AST/SC 1-6, and Contract Agents in grades FG I-IV.

Sources

This article is based on the European Commission Staff Regulations and other publicly available information such as EU institutions’ vacancy announcements. As the EU legal documents and even information on the various websites is hard to understand, this article is one from a series that tries to make information about employment in the European Commission and other EU institutions more accessible.

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