The hourly wage of McDonald’s employees in Denmark is really that high

Claim:

McDonald’s employees in Denmark earn $22 an hour and get six weeks of paid vacation.

Evaluation:

context

The minimum hourly wage, taking the exchange rate into account, was just under $20 in December 2024. But overtime, night work, weekend work and holidays increase the earnings of a Danish McDonald’s employee. You’ll also enjoy a range of benefits, including six weeks of paid holiday per year, maternity leave, pension provision and special savings offers.

A rumor has been circulating for years that McDonald’s employees in Denmark earn $22 an hour and get six weeks of paid vacation. The claim resurfaced in December 2024 in a Facebook post with a vintage photo of McDonald’s employees smiling and holding up trays (archived):

(Facebook user Kathy Qualls)

The starting wage for McDonald’s employees in Denmark is around $22 per hour. You also receive six weeks of paid vacation per year, life insurance, maternity leave and retirement benefits.

Some commenters reacted with hostility. “So, move to Denmark,” said one. “And 60% tax rate,” said another.

The rumor wasn’t new. In March 2021, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, made a similar claim (archived):

At the time, Snopes addressed these claims and found that they were mostly true. In 2021, we found that McDonald’s employees in Denmark earned at least $20 per hour or more in after-hours, overtime, or holiday shifts. They also enjoyed six weeks of paid vacation.

According to a government website, there is no mandatory minimum wage in Denmark. Instead, wages are set through collective bargaining between companies and unions. We contacted 3F, the union that represents workers in the fast food industry, for updates on hourly wages and other benefits for McDonald’s employees.

Allan Boldt, a spokesman for the union, confirmed that the base hourly rate for a McDonald’s employee in December 2024 approached the posted rate. This allowed Snopes to maintain the rating as of 2021. Taking into account the exchange rate at the time of this writing, McDonald’s employees earned 141.24 crowns per hour (US$19.67). Overtime was paid at one and a half to double the time. They earned an additional 21.50 kroner ($2.99) per hour on weekdays after 6 p.m. and an additional 29.37 kronor ($4.09) per hour on Sundays. On holidays they earned double the basic rate.

As the meme shows, Danish McDonald’s employees also enjoy six weeks of paid vacation per year – five of which are government-mandated and one of which is agreed upon through collective bargaining. You actually benefit from a retirement provision equal to 10% of your earnings. You also have fully paid sick leave and fully paid maternity leave.

Another advantage in Denmark is the so-called “special savings”, which allows people to receive extra money and decide for themselves how they want to use it. For example, you can use it for retirement savings, use it to pay for sick leave beyond one day, or simply use it as additional income. For McDonald’s employees, the special savings is 8.85% of total income.

The cost of meals at McDonald’s in Denmark does are not much different from McDonald’s meals in the US

For example, every six months The Economist publishes its Big Mac Index, which shows the cost of a Big Mac worldwide. While the magazine created the index in 1986 to determine whether currencies were over- or undervalued, we can use it to compare the cost of the burger.

In raw value, a Big Mac in June 2024 costs 0.6% less in Denmark at current exchange rates than in the USA. Taking gross domestic product per person into account, a Danish Big Mac costs 3.1% more – a far cry from the difference between the average McDonald’s average salary in the US ($13.27 per hour, according to recruiting site Zip Recruiter) and the minimum hourly wage of a Danish employee, which was 48.22% more. This does not take into account the cost of living after inflation for each country.

Furthermore, contrary to speculation in the comments on the Facebook post, the average tax rate in Denmark was not 50% or 60%. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international organization of 38 countries dedicated to economic growth and developing “better policies for better lives,” the average income tax rate for single people in 2023 was 36%. The average across all OECD countries was 24.9%. Meanwhile, the average income tax in Denmark was 26.7% for a married worker with two children – the third highest in the OECD.