How to negotiate salary in Denmark

Denmark has no statutory minimum wage. Pay and conditions are either set by collective agreements between unions and employers’ organisations, or negotiated between you and the employer. Lifeindenmark notes that neither Danish nor foreign companies are legally required to have an agreement. If your job is covered, your contract will typically refer to it.

Covered does not mean non-negotiable. An agreement usually sets a floor: Dansk Sygeplejeråd describes nurses’ pay as a basic wage, centrally agreed supplements and pension, with supplements for special functions or qualifications agreed locally. In the public sector, Djøf explains, pay is a basic wage plus fixed supplements that are not up for negotiation, plus individual supplements that are; if you do not manage staff, your union representative usually negotiates those once a year.

So ask early: “Is the position covered by a collective agreement, and which one?” The answer tells you what is fixed, what is negotiable and who does the negotiating.

Lifeindenmark’s advice is to start with the unions, which publish annual wage statistics you can use as a starting point. Access varies, so check before you rely on one.

• IDA (science and engineering) and Djøf (law, economics, social science) run detailed salary calculators by education, seniority, job type and sector. Both say these are for members only.
• Djøf openly publishes a PDF salary overview with public-sector pay scales and its recommended starting salary for new graduates.
• Dansk Sygeplejeråd publishes nurses’ pay under each agreement, plus a salary statistics tool, on its website.
• Statistics Denmark’s free StatBank table LONS20 breaks earnings down by occupation and sector, including standardised monthly earnings, quartiles and the pension component.
• The company itself: Lederne suggests dividing the salary costs in the annual report by the number of employees, or asking someone who works there.

Statistics are a snapshot. IDA collects private-sector salaries each September, so it recommends adding the year’s expected pay rise, proposing a figure at the high end of what the tools suggest, and deciding privately what you would accept. Look at the median as well as the average, which a few very high salaries can pull up.

Salaried jobs are usually discussed as a monthly figure before tax, and pension is what trips people up. Union benchmarks tend to include it: Djøf’s recommended starting salary is a monthly salary including your own and your employer’s pension contributions, and IDA defines its minimum salary the same way. An employer may quote the same job without pension. Djøf’s advice is to make sure you are both talking about the same number, and to ask if in doubt.

The difference is real money. DKK 45,000 excluding pension with a 10% employer contribution is DKK 49,500 a month in total; DKK 45,000 including pension is DKK 45,000. One more trap: in Danish public pay tables, “nettoløn” means pay excluding pension and “bruttoløn” means including it. Neither refers to take-home pay after tax.

In private jobs, pension is negotiable. Djøf notes that no law requires a private employer to pay into your pension, and that the percentage, usually split between you and the employer, is often the same for all staff. It recommends a total of 15–20% of salary, and asking for contributions from your first day if the contract does not provide them. In the public sector the percentage is fixed by agreement: 18.07% for academics employed by the state.

Holiday first. Under the Holiday Act you accrue 2.08 days of paid holiday a month, five weeks a year, and employees with paid holiday also get a holiday supplement of 1% of pay. Anything beyond that, such as a sixth holiday week or extra days off (feriefridage), comes from your contract or collective agreement, not the law. Dansk Psykolog Forening advises that if a package lacks the sixth week, the salary should reflect it.

• Working hours: Djøf notes that private salaried staff typically get the same monthly pay whether they work 37 or 47 hours a week, so agree what the salary covers.
• Bonus: Djøf recommends keeping at least 80% of your pay fixed, because bonuses are less certain.
• Pay during parental leave, health insurance, training, home-working days and job title.
• Company car or phone: Lederne’s advice is to value benefits at what they are worth to you. If you rarely drive, the car is worth less.

Before comparing offers, list what your current package includes: holiday supplement, pension, bonus, extra days off, parental-leave pay. You can only judge a new offer against the whole of the old one.

Be ready from the first interview; Djøf says being asked then is normal. If it does not come up, wait until you have an offer, when you are in a stronger position. Unions differ on who should name a number first. Djøf says to prepare one ambitious but defensible figure and say only that one aloud, keeping your minimum to yourself. Lederne advises letting the company make the first offer when you change jobs, so you do not undercut it. A workable middle: if asked, give your researched figure and say whether it includes pension; if not, let them open.

If you are asked what you earn now and want a raise, Djøf’s advice is to keep it to yourself, because the employer may treat it as your expectation. That question is on its way out. The Danish bill implementing the EU pay transparency directive would require employers to give applicants the starting salary or pay range before the interview and bar them from asking about salary history. It has not yet been adopted: the bill lapsed at the 2026 general election, and KL, the association of Danish municipalities, expects implementation from 1 January 2027. KL adds that some of these provisions have applied directly to municipal employers since 7 June 2026.

Offers often arrive by phone. Dansk Psykolog Forening’s advice is to accept with a reservation: ask for the draft contract and time to come back on the salary. Then decide three numbers: the best result, a result that should be achievable, and your walk-away point.

• If the offer is lower than you expected, ask whether it is the best they can do (Lederne) and how they arrived at it (Djøf).
• Treat a no as a counter-offer. Park salary, discuss pension, hours or holiday, then come back to it.
• If base pay truly cannot move, ask for extra holiday or a higher pension contribution instead.
• Before you finish, confirm whether the figure includes pension and when it takes effect, and get it in writing.
• Have the contract checked before you sign; unions such as Lederne and Dansk Psykolog Forening review contracts for members.

Senior candidates have more room. Djøf notes that being headhunted or holding several offers strengthens your position, and that director packages are negotiated individually. You can ask for a minimum annual adjustment linked to union salary statistics, or a pay staircase with a fixed rise each year.

If you are covered by a collective agreement, Lederne notes that you have a right to a salary negotiation once a year. In a private job without one there is, as a starting point, no legal claim to it, so ask to have an annual pay review written into your contract. Dansk Psykolog Forening points out that private-sector pay does not necessarily rise every year as public-sector pay does, and that inflation erodes it when it does not.

For the review itself, Djøf says your manager will often expect you to open, so bring a figure and two or three strong, concrete arguments based on your results since the last review. Share statistics beforehand rather than springing them on your manager, never issue an ultimatum, and finish by asking what you would need to deliver for the next rise. The biggest jumps, Djøf adds, usually come with a change of job.

Under the Pay Limit scheme, the salary must be at least DKK 552,000 a year in 2026, and the amount is regulated every 1 January. SIRI counts cash salary including guaranteed fixed supplements, pension contributions paid by you and the employer, and paid holiday allowance. It does not count benefits such as a paid canteen, a free car, phone, internet or housing. The salary must also match Danish standards for the field, the job must be at least 30 hours a week, and pay must go into a Danish bank account.

That shapes the negotiation. Near the threshold, do not trade salary for benefits SIRI will not count, and make sure the contract states the figures clearly. SIRI decides every case and the rules change, so check the current requirements on nyidanmark.dk before you sign. Which permit fits your situation is covered separately.

Start from the union benchmark for your field. Djøf recommends DKK 43,800 a month including pension for new graduates in private jobs in 2026, and IDA publishes an indicative minimum for new STEM graduates. These are recommendations, not entitlements: Djøf stresses that many earn more and others less, depending on employer, industry and location. Graduate programmes often have a fixed package, but Djøf suggests trying anyway, for example on when you move up to the next pay step. The international graduates guide covers permits and graduate programmes.