Salaries of BBAs increased moderately

The increase in unemployment was reflected in the confidence of BBAs in working life, but earnings increased slightly. According to our annual member survey, the average salary of BBAs increased by 1.5 per cent last year when compared to the previous year. The average salary is now EUR 4,412 per month. Despite the moderate development in earnings, the purchasing power of BBAs remained unchanged, while it declined the previous year due to rapid inflation.

Last year, 78 per cent of Professionals of Business and Technology members saw their salary rising, and the single greatest reason for the development in earnings was, as in previous years, the general increase. For nearly 70 per cent of the members whose earnings increased, the salary increase was due to the pay increase that was agreed in collective agreements. The significance of the general increase rises as the career progresses. Among those under the age of 40, the increase in earnings was due to a general increase based on the collective agreement for just over 60 per cent, while the share for those aged 40–49 rises to 68 per cent and for those aged 50 or over to 74 per cent. Only about one in four of those whose earnings increased received a merit increase based on their personal performance.

"The general increases negotiated by the trade unions and paid to everyone support the employee’s purchasing power throughout their career. Changing jobs and moving to more demanding tasks also increase salaries, especially early in the career," says labor market researcher Joonas Miettinen. 

"When an individual has a long career behind them, changing jobs or tasks is less likely to increase their salary. Merit increases based on personal performance are distributed to a relatively small group in working life," Miettinen points out.

The long-term trend of an increase in specialist work is also reflected in the positions of BBAs. As in previous years, the majority of BBAs (76 per cent) work in specialist and middle management positions. The positive development of status levels is reflected in the placement of female BBAs in particular. 57 per cent of women are already in specialist positions, compared to 49 per cent five years ago.

“The result shows that working life now better recognizes the competence and skills provided by our degree, which we have also worked hard to develop for several decades,” says Chairman Jaakko Hyvönen. "Our salary and career counseling services have also provided support and tools for wording one’s competence and salary wishes, and our members actively use them. However, there is still a long path ahead of us in identifying the competence produced by UAS master's degrees. The career development of those with a master's degree from an university of applied sciences in the public sector, for example, is hampered by outdated qualification requirements, which should be changed," Hyvönen continues.

The unemployment rate among university graduates is at a record-high level, which is also reflected in the attitude of BBAs towards the security of their own employment relationships. The view of the stability of one’s own workplace and employment relationship has collapsed when compared to previous years. Two years ago, more than 80 per cent of members rated the situation at their own workplace as stable or fairly stable, whereas the corresponding figure had dropped to 68 per cent at the end of last year. Nearly 20 per cent of respondents considered redundancies at their workplace to be possible or probable, compared to less than 10 per cent in the previous year. 

"When we look at the unemployment trend in previous years, the results of our member survey are not surprising. The number of unemployed BBAs is also at a record-high level, and unfortunately this has an impact on confidence in the situation at the workplace," Miettinen says. "However, our members assess their own situation more positively than the situation at the workplace. The number of people laid off has also turned to a decline, and we are now optimistically waiting for signs of an improvement in the economic and unemployment situation.

"In these times, developing and maintaining competence is even more important for those working as specialists. After the discontinuation of adult education benefits, we have not been able to build a new model that would enable continuous learning for adults," says Chairman Hyvönen. "The training voucher that we proposed could be used to effectively develop the competence of working-age people. In practice, it would make voluntary further education and training a tax-exempt employee benefit comparable to the current lunch or sports vouchers.

As the only union in Finland, we have been researching the remuneration and working conditions of BBAs for nearly 30 years. The data collection for our annual member survey was carried out between October 30 and November 31, 2024. 3,112 Professionals of Business and Technology members responded to the survey.

You might be interested in

"YAMK" or "maisteri (AMK)"?

Representatives in change negotiations: who represents the employees?