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Wages and agency fees for household staff in Monaco

As of 25 October 2026

This guide summarises what a private household in Monaco must pay household staff at least, what official statistics say about the pay of domestic staff, and what placement agencies may charge and actually charge. Minimum wage, statistics and rules come from the Principality's legislation and official pages, the fees from the websites of the agencies in the register; every figure carries its source, all retrieved on 25 October 2026. The text is an orientation, not legal or tax advice and not a pay recommendation. The rules on work permits, registration and agencies are in the guide Hiring household staff in Monaco.

At a glance

Minimum wage and components of pay

The Wages Act no. 739 of 1963 ties Monegasque minimum wages to the neighbouring economic region and raises them by an allowance of 5 percent. The Caisses Sociales confirm the hourly rate: since 1 June 2026 the SMIC has been EUR 12.31 gross, EUR 12.93 with the allowance by arithmetic. The allowance is not part of the contribution base when pay equals the minimum of the job category. The monthly basis in Monaco is the 39-hour week with 169 hours a month, not the French 151.67 hours; the annual SMIC circulars and the statistics office IMSEE calculate this way. For 2026 that gives EUR 2,080.39 gross a month without and EUR 2,184.41 with the allowance, a conversion from official values, as the 2026 circular could not be retrieved. According to the explanatory memorandum of Bill 777 of 2004, minimum wages may not fall below the collectively agreed minimum wages of the same occupations in the neighbouring region either; whether this makes the French pay levels of IDCC 3239 decisive for household staff in Monaco, no official page says, and we found no Monegasque collective agreement for domestic staff.

Board and lodging form part of the declared gross salary. The internal regulation of the health fund CCSS values accommodation at the rent and charges paid by the employer or at the indexed rental value, alternatively at 3 percent of the acquisition cost, and provides a flat rate for domestic staff; its amount and the value of a meal are stated by the Caisses Sociales on a page on benefits in kind that we could not read. No official page regulates a thirteenth month or supplements for night work or living in; the brochure of the Direction du Travail refers questions on pay to the Inspection du Travail. Pay and payslip must be handed over on the last day of each month.

What official statistics say about pay

IMSEE counts private households as employers in a category of their own, NAF subclass 97.00Y, which includes among others domestic staff, chauffeurs, cleaners, nurses, private secretaries and sailors. At the end of 2025 there were 2,848 employees, 4.8 percent of private-sector employment, with 2,680 households as employers, on average 1.1 employees per household; 73.7 percent women, average age 49.3 years against 42.5 in the whole private sector. The Caisses Sociales count among the jobs of household employers home helps, general maids, drivers, cooks, security guards, carers, governesses, handymen, gardeners, linen maids, waiters, butlers, nannies and valets; private secretaries, accountants, nurses and sailors employed by an individual count as employees of a professional employer instead.

The only official wage figure for domestic staff is in the Observatory of salaries in the private sector 2022: median EUR 2,585 and average EUR 2,901 gross a month in full-time equivalents of 169 hours, EUR 489 below the median of all private-sector employees of EUR 3,074 (average EUR 4,593). The minimum wage in 2022 was EUR 1,786.33 a month; the median for domestic staff was thus 1.4 times that. Because of their special status and their tendency to hold several jobs, IMSEE excludes domestic staff from the rest of the analysis. IMSEE publishes no figures by occupation, for a butler, cook or nanny for instance, and the infographics on salaries for 2023 to 2025 exist only as images.

What agencies may charge

Placement, recruitment and temporary work are not on the official list of regulated activities or activities subject to authorisation (as of 5 December 2025); an agency needs only the general business authorisation under Act no. 1.573. We found no rule in Monegasque law on caps, due dates, refunds, probation or replacement, nor a ban on fees charged to job seekers; what the household pays stands in its contract with the agency alone. Private security services including close protection, by contrast, need a licence under Act no. 1.264. Every hire still runs through the Service de l'Emploi, which issues the work permit against a stamp duty of EUR 5 and may propose priority candidates; an agency searches and presents candidates, the household remains the employer.

VAT in Monaco is levied on the same basis and at the same rates as in France; placement services carry the standard rate of 20 percent, there is no reduced rate. Agencies based on the Côte d'Azur come under French law, whose rules are in the guide Wages and agency fees for household staff in France.

Fees published in the register

Of the eight entries for household staffing agencies in Monaco, one states fees on its website; the rest quote on request. Lumière Placements charges 20 percent of the first-year gross salary, invoiced on signature of the employment contract, plus a search deposit of EUR 500 credited in full; maternity nurses, short-term and yacht placements are quoted in writing (as of 25 October 2026, source on the entry page). None of the eight lifestyle concierges in Monaco publishes prices.

A worked example: on an annual salary of EUR 36,000, roughly the 2022 average for domestic staff, 20 percent is a fee of EUR 7,200, EUR 8,640 with VAT. Many agencies serving households in Monaco are based on the Côte d'Azur or in London and state their fees there; the overview of all agencies with published fees is on the page Agencies with published fees.

What the household pays on top

Contributions to the Caisses Sociales as of 1 October 2026: health fund CCSS 13.40 percent, for one or two domestic employees with fewer than 254 hours a month on only 33 percent of gross pay; pension fund CAR 8.39 percent employer share up to EUR 6,276 a month; since 1 October 2026 also the supplementary pension CMRC for domestic employees, in tranche A up to EUR 4,067 at 7.87 percent plus 2.15 percent without pension rights, 60 percent of which falls on the employer, 6.0 percent of pay by arithmetic; unemployment insurance 6.40 percent in total, whose split between employer and employee the page does not state. Together the household bears at least 27.8 percent on the full base and 18.8 percent on the reduced base, each plus its share of unemployment insurance and the premium for accident insurance with an insurer in Monaco. On the minimum wage with allowance of EUR 2,184 a month, that is about EUR 607 on the full and EUR 411 on the reduced base before unemployment insurance.

The salary statement with gross pay including benefits in kind, hours, leave and bonuses goes to the Caisses Sociales by the 10th of the following month, online or on the form sent out; late payment costs a 10 percent surcharge and 1 percent interest per month. The Caisses Sociales provide household employers with a calculator that produces the payslip. Details on registration and work permits are in the guide Hiring household staff in Monaco.

Sources

All sources retrieved on 25 October 2026.

  1. Caisses Sociales de Monaco, Employeur de gens de maison, Cotisations, caisses-sociales.mc; Salary statements, caisses-sociales.mc; Contributions, caisses-sociales.mc; Employer categories, caisses-sociales.mc; Lettre d'information aux employeurs, October 2026, caisses-sociales.mc
  2. Caisses Sociales de Monaco, Circulaire n° 2018-1 du 2 janvier 2018 relative au S.M.I.C., caisses-sociales.mc; Règlement intérieur de la Caisse de Compensation des Services Sociaux, articles 15, 16 and 26, caisses-sociales.mc
  3. Gouvernement Princier, Projet de loi n° 777 modifiant la loi n° 739 du 16 mars 1963 sur le salaire, 2004, legimonaco.mc
  4. Direction du Travail, brochure Employer du personnel de maison, monservicepublic.gouv.mc
  5. IMSEE, Observatory of salaries in the private sector 2022, November 2023, imsee.mc; Employment Observatory 2025, imsee.mc; The private sector, imsee.mc; infographics Salaries in the private sector, imsee.mc
  6. Monentreprise, List of activities that are regulated and/or subject to authorisation, as of 5 December 2025, monentreprise.gouv.mc; How to declare and pay VAT, as of 30 July 2026, monentreprise.gouv.mc; BOFiP BOI-TVA-LIQ-20, Le taux normal, bofip.impots.gouv.fr
  7. Monservicepublic, How to register with the employment office, as of 30 April 2024, monservicepublic.gouv.mc; Gouvernement Princier, Employee support, gouv.mc
  8. Luxury.me, entry of the agency named, with source and retrieval date on the entry page; overview Agencies with published fees

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