Salary of Assistants in grade AST 8

Salary of Assistants in grade AST 8

This article shows how much Assistants in grade AST8 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 AST8 in the European Commission and other EU institutions ranges from EUR 7258 to 8211. 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 AST8 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 8
Basic Pay7258725872587258
Household allowance03420342
Dependent child allowance08580858
Expatriation allowance0013531353
Pension contribution-733-733-733-733
Health insurance contribution (JSIS coverage)-123-123-123-123
Accident insurance contribution-7-7-7-7
Tax-373-373-373-373
Special levy-156-156-156-156
Correction coefficient100%100%100%100%
TOTAL REMUNERATION
if employed in Brussels
5866706672198419
European Commission Assistants AST8 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 AST8

GradeStep 1Step 2Step 3Step 4Step 5
98 211,438 556,488 916,059 164,099 290,71
87 257,537 562,507 880,288 099,538 211,43
76 414,446 683,996 964,857 158,637 257,53
Basic salary scale for Assistants AST8 compared to AST7 and AST9. Source: Staff Regulations, Article 66

Impact of Correction Coefficient on AST8 basic pay

The below table shows you the actual Assistants AST 8 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 Pay EUR
Amsterdam, NetherlandsEMA111.48085
Barcelona, SpainF4E96.36989
Berlin, GermanyEU Delegation101.47360
Bilbao, SpainEU-OSHA96.36989
Bratislava, SlovakiaELA79.95799
Brussels, BelgiumEuropean Commission, European Parliament, European Council, EDA, SRB1007258
Bucharest, RomaniaECITRCC68.54972
Budapest, HungaryCEPOL, EIT76.15523
Cologne, GermanyEASA96.97033
Copenhagen, DenmarkEEA134.29740
Dublin, IrelandEUROFOUND133.69697
Frankfurt am Main, GermanyECB, EIOPA96.97033
Hague, NetherlandsEurojust, Europol111.48085
Helsinki, FinlandECHA118.68608
Heraklion, GreeceENISA85.26184
Karlsruhe, GermanyJRC96.97033
Lefkosia, CyprusEU Delegation82.25966
Lisbon, PortugalEMSA, EMCDDA91.46634
Ljubljana, SloveniaACER84.96162
Luxembourg City, LuxembourgEuropean Commission, Eurostat, CDT, Court of Auditors1007258
Madrid, SpainEU Delegation96.36989
Munich, Germanyn/a113.48231
Parma, ItalyEFSA91.26619
Paris, FranceEBA, ESMA119.98702
Prague, CzechiaEGSA88.16394
Riga, LatviaBEREC805806
Rome, ItalyEU Delegation95.26910
Sofia, BulgariaEU Delegation61.74478
Stockholm, SwedenECDC130.39457
Tallinn, Estoniaeu-LISA86.36264
Thessaloniki, GreeceCEDEFOP85.26184
Turin, ItalyETF91.26619
Valletta, MaltaEUAA946823
Varese, Italyn/a91.26619
Valenciennes and Lille, FranceERA119.98702
Vienna, AustriaFRA109.67955
Vigo, SpainEFCA96.36989
Vilnius, LithuaniaEIGE80.15814
Warsaw, PolandFrontex70.65124
Zagreb, CroatiaEU Delegation78.35683
Basic Pay of European Commission Assistants AST8, 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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