Survey's initial findings show wide variations in pay in the utilities

The European Commission has produced a short overview of paternity and parental leave provisions across EU countries revealing that, for example, paternity leave is available in nearly all member states but the length and level of compensation vary considerably. The draft directive on work-life balance proposes two weeks' paternity leave paid at the level of sick pay. While 17 member states already have the two-week minimum only 13 offer it on the basis of at least 66% of previous earnings.

The annual review of pay developments by the EIRO industrial relations observatory found national average nominal pay increases ranging from 1.7% in France to 32.3% in Latvia in 2007. Taking account of inflation, real increases ranged from -3.5% in Slovenia to 18.3% in Latvia with inflation outstripping pay in 12 countries in 2007. The EIRO report also looks at pay increases in the civil service and indicates that the average nominal increase across the EU 27 of 6.2% in 2007 is higher than the 4.1% average recorded in 2006. The highest nominal increases for civil servants in 2007 were 42.2% in