Cost of hiring office and admin staff in Iceland
Clerical support workers in Iceland (assistants, receptionists, bookkeeping and data clerks) earned €61,957 a year on average in the latest EU-wide earnings survey[1].
Clerical pay in Iceland is among the highest in Europe, 2.3 times the median country (€26,981.0). Professionals (accountants, recruiters, marketing specialists) earn 1.4 times what clerical staff do, a narrow gap.
Average pay by occupation group
| Group | EUR per year | USD | Our roles in this group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | $95,488 | Accountant, Recruiter, Marketing Specialist, Project Coordinator | |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | $91,470 | Paralegal, Sales Development Representative | |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | $69,441 | Executive Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Virtual Receptionist, Office Manager | |
| All occupations | $87,642 |
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 €59.3 in Iceland in 2025 (business economy, excluding public administration)[3]; 20.7% of that was non-wage cost, mainly employer social contributions.
| Group | Estimated employer cost per year |
|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | €107,435 |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | €102,914 |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | €78,130 |
Labour cost per hour since 2008
| Year | Cost per hour | Change since 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | +0% | |
| 2012 | +6% | |
| 2016 | +65% | |
| 2020 | +73% | |
| 2022 | +120% | |
| 2025 | +171% |
In euro terms, hourly labour cost in Iceland rose 171% from 2008 to 2025; the median across the 27 countries with data for both years was +75%. Iceland is outside the euro area, so these euro figures also move with the exchange rate.
Countries with similar labour costs
| Country | Labour cost per hour | Non-wage share |
|---|---|---|
| Iceland | 20.7% | |
| Luxembourg | 12.4% | |
| Norway | 18.7% | |
| Denmark | 13.3% | |
| Netherlands | 24.7% |
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 19% of the 2022 average clerical wage in Iceland, plus a one-time fee of $2,500–$3,000[4].
Your 9:00–17:00 in Reykjavik (UTC+0 in winter), in their local time
| City | Time zone | Your day, their time (Jan) | Shared hours (Jan) | Shared hours (Jul) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi | UTC+4 | 13:00–21:00 | 5 h | 5 h |
| Yerevan | UTC+4 | 13:00–21:00 | 5 h | 5 h |
| Kyiv | UTC+2 | 11:00–19:00 | 7 h | 6 h |
| Almaty | UTC+5 | 14:00–22:00 | 4 h | 4 h |
From Reykjavik, Kyiv shares the most of a working day (7 hours in January).
Questions
How much does an administrative assistant earn in Iceland?
Clerical support workers earned €61,957 a year on average in 2022 (Eurostat SES).
What are employer costs in Iceland?
Labour cost was €59.3 per hour in 2025, with 20.7% 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.