Paid work in the care sector remains one of the lowest paid.

Omissions

• The claim does not cite any source for the assertion.
• The Eurofound analysis covers 'social services' broadly, which includes residential care and social work without accommodation. Within this category, workers in social work without accommodation earn 18.7% less than average, while residential care workers are comparatively better paid, though still below average.
• The claim states 'among the lowest paid' without providing a cross-sector ranking; the available data confirms below-average pay but does not specify the exact rank of the care sector relative to all other economic sectors.
• The Eurofound publication date is likely 2025, based on data covering 2014-2024. The MEP could not have cited data from after the session date of 2026-05-20, but the data period (up to 2024) is prior to the session and thus available.
• No EU-wide cross-sector wage ranking by NACE activity was located to confirm whether care is literally among the very lowest-paid sectors versus simply below average.

Sources

• PrimaryEurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions)Social services workers across the EU earn around 20% less than the average worker. Workers in residential care are better paid than those in social work without accommodation, who earn 18.7% less than the average. In the 10 years from 2014 to 2024, the number of social services workers in the EU increased from 8 million to 10 million, and the pay gap has persisted.
• SecondaryEPSU (European Public Service Unions)A new analysis from Eurofound shows that social services workers across the EU earn around 20% less than the average worker, with the pay gap widening.