UN salaries: What you need to know

Many United Nations employees will tell you the pay is good. Field staff in particular tends to accumulate savings. According to James Luko, who spent 12 years with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Croatia, Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, most U.N. workers are exempt from paying their home country taxes. “If you work in the field, there isn’t much to spend your money on, so people can really save their money,” he said. As an international civil service, salaries at the U.N. are fairly standard across the family of agencies. They only differ depending on the employee category. Professional staff Except for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the U.N. common system of salaries and allowances applies for all U.N. agencies and programs’ professional staff. The U.N. bases these salaries on the highest-paying federal civil service, which is currently the U.S. civil service. In January 2014, salaries for entry-level or P-1/P-2 professional workers without a dependent child or spouse ranged from $39,514 to $49,916. Mid-level or P-3/P-4 employees earned between $60,205 and $72,605. Senior-level or P-5 workers made at least $87,605. The U.N. adjusts salaries to account for differences in the cost of living in various locations. The organization also offers a hardship allowance and hazard pay to professional and support staff located in a war zone or areas afflicted by an Ebola outbreak, among others. Effective Jan. 1, 2014, hazard pay for internationally recruited professional staff was $1,600 per month. Professional employees are not eligible to get overtime pay. Some U.N. agencies may provide night differential payments for professionals who work nights. Field service staff Individuals in the field service category work in peacekeeping operations and run the U.N.’s telecommunications systems. The U.N. recruits field service employees internationally. Field service staff members have a salary scale that applies worldwide. This category includes seven grades, pay rates correlate with wages for similar jobs in the U.S. federal civil service. Salaries start at $30,858 for staff members or FS-1 employees without children or dependent spouses. Similar to professional staff, field service workers receive post-adjustment pay to account for costs of living. General service staff The U.N. typically recruits general service employees, such as administrative assistants and typists, locally. It may hire someone from another country if the skills needed can only be found outside a particular geographical area. The U.N. pays general service staff according to salary scales based on prevailing wages in the location where they work. Most general service staff members remain at the same duty station throughout the duration of their U.N. careers. General service employees who are proficient in two of the U.N.’s official languages — Arabic, French, Spanish, English, Russian and Chinese — and have passed language exams may get a language allowance. Depending on the prevailing local practice, general service staff may receive either overtime compensation or night differential payments, or both. For locally recruited staff, hazard pay is 25 percent of the local salary scale’s midpoint. General service employees from foreign countries may receive non-local status and could be eligible for certain international benefits such as rental subsidies. National professional officers Some U.N. organizations employ national professional officers to perform duties that cannot be carried out effectively by international hires. These job functions include public information and development assistance. The U.N. recruits NPOs locally. A comparison with the best prevailing salary condition in the duty station determines salary scales for NPOs. NPOs are provided with the same benefits and allowances as general service employees, but they are not entitled to overtime pay and language allowances. Contractors and consultants The U.N. hires a large number of consultants and experts. The types of contracts available depend on the agency. UNOPS, for instance, hires three different types of contractors. International contractors perform specialist or advisory duties outside their home country and usually have at least a master’s degree. Local contractors hired in their home country or place of residence can perform either expert or advisory duties or support or administrative duties, with the latter not requiring a master’s degree. The amount of payment hinges on whether the consultant is an international or a local hire, as well as on the individual contractor’s background. At UNDP’s office in Belarus, for instance, local contractors’ salaries are based on local prevailing wages, but the amount of payment also depends on the position’s level and the selected candidate’s experience. In addition, payment for consultants may vary depending on the length and complexity of the assignment. The U.N. does not offer hazard pay to consultants or individual contractors. Volunteers and Interns The U.N. offers volunteers a living allowance, insurance and a resettlement allowance to its volunteers and interns. It, however, does not pay interns. Check out more UN career articles and our other career advice stories online, and subscribe to Doing Good to receive top international development career and recruitment news.