Cost of hiring office and admin staff in Estonia
Clerical support workers in Estonia (assistants, receptionists, bookkeeping and data clerks) earned €19,492 a year on average in the latest EU-wide earnings survey[1].
Clerical pay is 28% below the European median of €26,981.0, so the gap to remote hiring is smaller here. Professionals (accountants, recruiters, marketing specialists) earn 1.5 times what clerical staff do. Employer contributions weigh heavily: non-wage costs are 25.6% of labour costs against a median of 19.8%.
Average pay by occupation group
| Group | EUR per year | USD | Our roles in this group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | $33,493 | Accountant, Recruiter, Marketing Specialist, Project Coordinator | |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | $28,488 | Paralegal, Sales Development Representative | |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | $21,847 | Executive Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Virtual Receptionist, Office Manager | |
| All occupations | $25,513 |
USD at the ECB reference rate of 2026-10-16[2]. Eurostat publishes earnings by major occupation group only, for enterprises with 10+ employees, before employer contributions.
What the employer pays on top
An hour of work cost employers €21.1 in Estonia in 2025 (business economy, excluding public administration)[3]; 25.6% of that was non-wage cost, mainly employer social contributions.
| Group | Estimated employer cost per year |
|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | €40,165 |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | €34,164 |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | €26,199 |
Labour cost per hour since 2008
| Year | Cost per hour | Change since 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | +0% | |
| 2012 | +9% | |
| 2016 | +37% | |
| 2020 | +78% | |
| 2022 | +108% | |
| 2025 | +167% |
In euro terms, hourly labour cost in Estonia rose 167% from 2008 to 2025; the median across the 27 countries with data for both years was +75%. Costs here are rising faster than in most of Europe.
Countries with similar labour costs
| Country | Labour cost per hour | Non-wage share |
|---|---|---|
| Estonia | 25.6% | |
| Cyprus | 19.4% | |
| Czechia | 24.5% | |
| Slovakia | 28.6% | |
| Portugal | 19.4% |
A remote hire from Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine or Kazakhstan
At the top of our range (about €11,777 a year) a remote executive assistant costs 60% of the 2022 average clerical wage in Estonia, plus a one-time fee of $2,500–$3,000[4].
Your 9:00–17:00 in Tallinn (UTC+2 in winter), in their local time
| City | Time zone | Your day, their time (Jan) | Shared hours (Jan) | Shared hours (Jul) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi | UTC+4 | 11:00–19:00 | 7 h | 8 h |
| Yerevan | UTC+4 | 11:00–19:00 | 7 h | 8 h |
| Kyiv | UTC+2 | 09:00–17:00 | 8 h | 8 h |
| Almaty | UTC+5 | 12:00–20:00 | 6 h | 7 h |
From Tallinn, Kyiv shares the most of a working day (8 hours in January).
Questions
How much does an administrative assistant earn in Estonia?
Clerical support workers earned €19,492 a year on average in 2022 (Eurostat SES).
What are employer costs in Estonia?
Labour cost was €21.1 per hour in 2025, with 25.6% non-wage costs.
Sources
- Eurostat, Structure of Earnings Survey 2022 (earn_ses22_28): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/earn_ses22_28/default/table
- European Central Bank, official exchange rate 2026-10-16: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml
- Eurostat, labour cost levels (lc_lci_lev): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table
- Silkstaff pricing: https://silkstaff.com/#pricing
How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Data checked 2026-10-16.