EU Pay Transparency: Italy Leads As Salary Disclosure Rises — Can Others Catch Up?

A large share of European jobseekers still apply for roles without knowing how much they will be paid because many adverts omit salary information. Candidates often invest significant time preparing applications, attending interviews and completing tests — yet in many cases they do not learn pay details until the end of the recruitment process. That opacity can conceal pay discrimination and widen the gender pay gap, the European Commission warns.

New Rules, Slow Rollout

To tackle these problems, the EU adopted the Pay Transparency Directive, with member states required to transpose it into national law by 7 June this year. Most countries missed that deadline. A PwC analysis (published in early August) reported that, as of November, only five EU states had transposed the directive: Italy, Slovakia, Malta, Lithuania and Greece.

Italy's Rapid Shift

Italy is the only major European economy to have implemented the directive so far, and the effect has been pronounced. Data from hiring platform Indeed show the share of Italian job postings including salary information rose from 26% in July 2025 to 61% in July this year. In July, Italy also overtook the UK in pay-ad transparency among the six large markets tracked (61% versus the UK’s 60%).

Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at Indeed: "Italy is emerging as a frontrunner on pay transparency among large economies in Europe, and the data suggests regulation is making a real difference."

How Other Countries Compare

Across other large EU economies the share of job adverts disclosing pay remains much lower: the Netherlands is near 49.5%, France around 43%, Spain about 18% and Germany roughly 14% (figures from Indeed). Spain has made limited progress, Germany has postponed full implementation until early 2027, and France's legislative approach remains unspecified.

What The Rules Require — And Their Limits

Under Italy's implementation employers must state either the starting salary or a pay range directly in the job advertisement, not merely disclose it later in the hiring process. Some employers began publishing pay details before the legal deadline, and disclosure accelerated after the law took effect.

However, the directive will not produce universal disclosure. Certain job categories are excluded in some countries, and legal details and enforcement arrangements are still being debated. As employer practices and enforcement mature, disclosure rates are expected to rise but not reach 100%.

Why It Matters: The Gender Pay Gap

Transparency is widely seen as a tool to reduce pay discrimination. Eurostat reported an EU gender pay gap of 11.1% in 2024 — meaning that, on average, women earned €88.90 for every €100 earned by men. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) estimates that the gap costs women in the EU about €358 billion a year, or nearly €3,900 per woman.

Esther Lynch, ETUC General Secretary: "Pay secrecy hands all the power to the employer and leaves women and their trade unions without the basic information they need to stand up for themselves."

Outlook

The Italian experience suggests that national implementation can quickly change employer behaviour and increase pay transparency. The key question now is whether other EU countries will follow suit and effectively convert the principle of transparency into enforceable practice — and whether that will help narrow the gender pay gap across the bloc.