For most Europeans, the salary attached to a job opening remains a mystery until late in the hiring process. Applicants invest hours in CVs, cover letters, and interviews, often without knowing whether the compensation matches their expectations or their worth. This opacity, the European Commission argues, fuels pay discrimination and perpetuates the gender pay gap, which stood at 11.1% across the EU in 2024, according to Eurostat.
To tackle this, the EU adopted the Pay Transparency Directive, with a transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. Yet only a handful of member states met it. Italy stands out as the only major European economy to have implemented the rules, and the impact is already visible in job advertisements.
Italy's leap forward
Data from the global hiring platform Indeed shows that the share of Italian job postings including salary information jumped from 26% in July 2025 to 61% in July 2026. That puts Italy ahead of the United Kingdom, which had long led the pack among Europe's largest economies, and far above Germany, Spain, and France.
“Italy is emerging as a frontrunner on pay transparency among large economies in Europe, and the data suggests regulation is making a real difference,” said Pawel Adrjan, director of economic research at Indeed.
The acceleration began even before the June deadline, as some employers prepared early, and then intensified once the law took effect. Italy has gone beyond the directive's minimum requirements by obliging employers to state the pay range directly in the job advertisement, giving candidates the information before they even decide to apply.
Most member states lag behind
According to a PwC analysis published in early August, only five EU member states had transposed the directive by then: Italy, Slovakia, Malta, Lithuania, and Greece. Spain has made limited progress, Germany has delayed implementation until early 2027, and France's position remains unspecified.
Indeed's data for the six largest European economies plus the Netherlands shows the gap clearly. In July 2026, Italy's 61% was followed by the UK at 60%, the Netherlands at 49.5%, France at 43%, Spain at 18%, and Germany at just 14%.
Adrjan noted that the trend is unmistakably upward, even if not all postings yet include salaries. Some job types are excluded under the directive, and legal details around enforcement are still being debated in several countries.
Stakes for working women
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has been vocal in its criticism of the delays. General Secretary Esther Lynch called the missed deadline “a betrayal of working women.”
“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,” she said.
ETUC research has consistently shown that pay transparency is a crucial tool for closing the gender pay gap, which means that for every €100 earned by men, women earn on average €88.9.
What's next for Europe?
The European Commission has yet to announce infringement procedures against member states that missed the deadline, but pressure is mounting. The directive's goal is not just to inform individual jobseekers but to create a culture of openness that discourages discriminatory pay practices.
“The next test will be whether other European countries can deliver the same shift from the principle of transparency into practice,” Adrjan said. He highlighted that in some countries, the current expectation is that stating pay ranges in job advertisements will ultimately not be required, which would undermine the directive's effectiveness.
For now, Italy offers a model of what is possible. Its experience suggests that regulation, when enforced, can quickly transform job ads from vague invitations into concrete offers. As other member states finally transpose the directive, jobseekers across the continent will be watching to see if their own markets follow suit.
For those considering a move to quieter corners of Europe, pay transparency may soon make comparisons easier. And for remote workers, the best countries for remote work might also become the most transparent.
