Formwork carpenter: which country pays best?

We compare minimum wages set by the collective agreement for construction in each country, for a skilled formwork carpenter (formworker), meaning with a trade qualification or several years of experience. These are floors: many workers earn more, especially with seniority or at a large company.

For each country, we took the category that best matches a skilled formwork carpenter:

• Switzerland: class Q of the National Agreement (LMV/CN), a worker with a certificate (Federal VET Diploma as a mason, EFZ/CFC, or an equivalent foreign certificate) and three years on site. Without a recognised certificate, it is class A (CHF 5'776.00 in the red zone).
• Germany: wage group 4 ("Spezialfacharbeiter") of the construction pay scale, a trained worker from their second year in the trade.
• Belgium: category III of joint committee 124 (a worker who masters a trade, three years' experience).
• Luxembourg: qualification B2 of group B (mason, steel fixer, formworker), a worker with a CATP (vocational certificate).
• Austria: group II.b "Facharbeiter" (skilled worker).
• France: level III position 1 (compagnon professionnel) of the Île-de-France regional pay scale. Each region has its own scale.
• Portugal: group IX, which includes the "carpinteiro de toscos ou cofragem de 1.ª".

To compare, we converted everything into francs at the September 2026 average rate published by the Swiss National Bank (SNB): €1 = CHF 0.94312.

(1) Onsite calculation: hourly × hours per week × 52 ÷ 12, or the reverse. (2) Onsite calculation: €20.3717 × 173 hours, the number of hours per month used in Luxembourg.

The amounts are those in force in 2026: since 1 January in Switzerland, 1 April in Germany, 1 May in Austria, 1 June in Luxembourg, 1 July in Belgium and Portugal, and since the extension of the regional agreement published on 5 February 2026 in France.

Example. A formwork carpenter with a Federal VET Diploma working in Geneva (red zone) is entitled to at least CHF 5'988.00 × 13 = CHF 77'844.00 gross per year. In Portugal, the minimum for the same trade is €981 × 14 = €13,734 per year, or about CHF 12'953. The Swiss minimum is therefore about six times higher.

A high salary does not mean a high standard of living if everything costs more. Eurostat measures the price level of household consumption in each country (EU average = 100). In 2025, it was 171 in Switzerland, 132 in Luxembourg, 116 in Belgium, 113 in Austria, 110 in France, 108 in Germany and 87 in Portugal.

If you divide the monthly minimum wage by this price level, you get a purchasing power benchmark, expressed in euros "at average EU prices":

What this table shows: once prices are taken into account, Switzerland is no longer far ahead. The German construction pay scale minimum even moves ahead, and Belgium and Austria come closer. The Swiss 13th-month salary is not enough to reverse this. However, the gap with France and above all Portugal remains very clear.

Three limits to keep in mind, so as not to jump to conclusions:

1. These are gross salaries. Taxes and social contributions are not deducted, and they vary a lot from one country to another. Net pay is not compared here.
2. The price level is a national average. Living in Geneva or Zurich costs more than the Swiss average, Lisbon more than the Portuguese average. Rent weighs heavily and depends mainly on the city.
3. The German pay scale does not protect everyone. It applies to companies bound by the agreement. Since 2022, there has been no construction-specific minimum wage in Germany: the only floor for everyone is the statutory minimum wage, €13.90 per hour in 2026. In Switzerland, by contrast, the main rules of the LMV/CN, including minimum wages, are declared generally binding: all companies in the main construction sector must respect them.

If you work in Switzerland through a placement agency, the agency is your employer. But when the company running the site is covered by the LMV/CN, the agency must apply the LMV/CN minimum wages and working time to you (Employment Services Act, AVG/LSE, article 20). A temporary formwork carpenter in class Q in Geneva is therefore also entitled to at least CHF 34.00 per hour, and to the 13th-month salary.

Important if you have a foreign qualification: class Q requires a certificate recognised as equivalent to the Federal VET Diploma (EFZ/CFC). A foreign certificate that is not recognised gives the right to class A. Ask your agency which class you are in: it must be shown on your payslip.