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Which country actually costs more?
Headline contribution rates are the wrong thing to compare. A country that charges less per euro of salary can still cost you more, because it obliges you to pay more euros.
The column that matters is the last one: what an employer pays over a year for every twelve months of the salary they quoted. It folds the contribution rate together with the number of salary instalments, and because it is a ratio it compares across currencies without needing an exchange rate.
| Country | Employer contributions | Months of pay per year | Statutory leave | Cost per 12 months quoted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal EUR | 26.50% | 14 above 12 is genuinely extra pay | 22 days
+13 holidays | 1.476× |
| Spain EUR | 30.65%
capped | 12 | 22 days
+14 holidays | 1.306× |
| Netherlands EUR | 17.99%
capped | 12.96 above 12 is genuinely extra pay | 20 days
+11 holidays | 1.274× |
| Germany EUR | 21.74%
capped | 12 | 20 days
+9 holidays | 1.217× |
| Poland PLN | 20.48%
capped | 12 | 20 days
+13 holidays | 1.205× |
| Ireland EUR | 11.25% | 12 | 20 days
+10 holidays | 1.113× |
What the table shows
Portugal is the most expensive of the 6 countries here, at 1.476× the salary you quote, against 1.113× in Ireland. That is a spread of about 33% on the same nominal salary, before any exchange rate enters the picture.
The ordering is not the ordering of the contribution rates, and two pairs in this table show why. The Netherlands charges the lowest employer rate here, and still costs more than Germany, because Dutch law adds a holiday allowance of 8% of annual pay on top of twelve months. Portugal charges less per euro than Spain and still costs more, because Portugal pays fourteen months and both extra payments are genuinely additional pay. Spain also quotes fourteen payments, but it normally divides one annual salary into fourteen instalments.
Anyone ranking these countries on headline rate alone gets both pairs backwards. That inversion is pinned as a unit test in this site's codebase, so it cannot quietly stop being true as rates move.
What this table cannot tell you
- Nothing about salary levels. These are multiples of whatever you pay, not the amount you have to pay. A 1.48× multiple on a low local salary can still be the cheaper hire in absolute money.
- Nothing about exchange rates. The multiple is currency-free by design. Converting a total into your own currency is a separate step, with its own risk.
- Nothing about the cost of getting it wrong. Misfiling contributions, misclassifying a contractor, or choosing the wrong contract type carries penalties this model does not price.
- Nothing beyond statutory minimums. Benefits you choose to offer, recruitment, equipment, and the fee an employer-of-record charges on top all sit outside these figures.
Sources
Every rate in this table is cited on the country page it comes from. Oldest verification date across the set: 2026-09-07.
Get told when this ranking changes
Statutory rates move at the start of a tax year, and the ordering above moves with them. We re-check every country and mail you when it does.