Cost of hiring office and admin staff in Portugal
Clerical support workers in Portugal (assistants, receptionists, bookkeeping and data clerks) earned €18,255 a year on average in the latest EU-wide earnings survey[1].
Clerical pay is 32% below the European median of €26,981.0, so the gap to remote hiring is smaller here. Professionals (accountants, recruiters, marketing specialists) earn 2.0 times what clerical staff do, one of the widest gaps in our table.
Average pay by occupation group
| Group | EUR per year | USD | Our roles in this group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | $40,423 | Accountant, Recruiter, Marketing Specialist, Project Coordinator | |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | $30,971 | Paralegal, Sales Development Representative | |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | $20,460 | Executive Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Virtual Receptionist, Office Manager | |
| All occupations | $25,904 |
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 €19.4 in Portugal in 2025 (business economy, excluding public administration)[3]; 19.4% of that was non-wage cost, mainly employer social contributions.
| Group | Estimated employer cost per year |
|---|---|
| Professionals (ISCO-08 group 2) | €44,747 |
| Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO-08 group 3) | €34,284 |
| Clerical support workers (ISCO-08 group 4) | €22,649 |
Labour cost per hour since 2008
| Year | Cost per hour | Change since 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | +0% | |
| 2012 | +9% | |
| 2016 | +11% | |
| 2020 | +24% | |
| 2022 | +32% | |
| 2025 | +59% |
In euro terms, hourly labour cost in Portugal rose 59% from 2008 to 2025; the median across the 27 countries with data for both years was +75%. Costs here grew more slowly than in most of Europe.
Countries with similar labour costs
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 65% of the 2022 average clerical wage in Portugal, plus a one-time fee of $2,500–$3,000[4].
Your 9:00–17:00 in Lisbon (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 | 6 h |
| Yerevan | UTC+4 | 13:00–21:00 | 5 h | 6 h |
| Kyiv | UTC+2 | 11:00–19:00 | 7 h | 7 h |
| Almaty | UTC+5 | 14:00–22:00 | 4 h | 5 h |
From Lisbon, Kyiv shares the most of a working day (7 hours in January).
Questions
How much does an administrative assistant earn in Portugal?
Clerical support workers earned €18,255 a year on average in 2022 (Eurostat SES).
What are employer costs in Portugal?
Labour cost was €19.4 per hour in 2025, with 19.4% 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.