Check that you get the right pay for your summer job – the typical hourly wage for summer service sector workers is over 7 euros

Shops, restaurants, facility services and amusement parks will provide a summer job for many young people this summer too. The basic hourly wage for workers in these sectors with no previous working experience is typically over 7 euros.

PAM’s working time and payroll expert Sirpa Leppäkangas encourages those employed in a sector for the first time to look into the matter by consulting the collective agreement and pay scales for the sector. That way you can also make sure that your employment contract is up to date.

“The collective agreement and the current pay scales tell you what your pay should be. For example, the pay for a high school student working at a shop checkout in the Helsinki region for the first time is at least 8.03 euros an hour, Leppäkangas says.

“The hourly wage in an ice cream kiosk is also over 7 euros. And the hourly wage has to be paid for all the hours on the duty roster, including any cancelled due to bad weather”, she points out.

Young waiters are a familiar sight in summer cafes. The hourly wage for an assistant waiter is at least just over 7 euros and, for example, under the collective agreement the monthly pay of a trainee chef working in a fast food restaurant is 1306 euros.

“As well as their basic pay, summer workers must be paid working time supplements, such as Sunday work compensation or evening supplements. Over the summer these payments can easily make up several hundred euros in additional income. In service sectors supplements make up a significant proportion of incomes”, Leppäkangas says.

In the facility services sector young people’s summer jobs often include grass-cutting or cleaning courtyards.
“For example, a high school summer worker employed by a facility services company to look after courtyard areas must be paid at least 9.60 euros an hour”, Leppäkangas says.

There are agreed wages for amusement parks too

Another major source of summer jobs is the amusement park sector, which provides a large number of jobs from ticket sellers to ride attendants.

“Amusement park jobs are also divided into pay groups by job description. A young person who has gained experience over several summers earns around 9 euros”, Leppäkangas says.

Wages are paid as per the collective agreement for summer jobs that are employment relationships, so not for example for work experience. Apart from the pay employment also has other benefits, such as holiday rights, which summer workers are also entitled to.

The majority of service sector collective agreements do not allow zero hours contracts

Leppäkangas hopes that summer workers within the service sector should gain positive experiences from their summer jobs.

What she finds worrying in that summer workers are being hired in companies on so-called zero hours contracts, although zero hours contracts are not allowed in most collective agreements. In worst cases, having a zero hours contract could mean that young summer workers ends up with no earnings during the whole summer.

“The majority of service sector collective agreements do not allow contracts in which the working time is zero. If, however, a so-called on-call contract has been made, each work period is its own fixed-term employment relationship. The employee is also always entitled to refuse working shifts that are offered”, Leppäkangas states.

“These types of employment contracts are not fair because they do not necessarily guarantee the employee any working hours or, therefore, any wages from their summer employment”, Leppäkangas points out. 

Check out the typical minimum wages for summer workers here (in Finnish).

This news has been revised 25.3.2019.