Health Care Assistants: Jobs in Demand in Europe (2025)

Health Care Assistants is an official occupation group (ISCO-08 code 5321) used by the International Labour Organization and Eurostat.

  • Birth assistant (clinic or hospital)
  • Nursing aide (clinic or hospital)
  • Patient care assistant
  • Psychiatric aide
18European countries report a shortage (EURES 2025)
4countries report a surplus
7,315open job ads right now in Germany and Sweden
5321ISCO-08 occupation code
Short answerIn the 2025 EURES report on labour shortages, 18 European countries reported a shortage of health care assistants: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. 4 reported a surplus: Finland, Latvia, Portugal and Sweden. Finland and Sweden appear in both lists, which usually means shortages in some regions and surpluses in others.

Pay in Germany for this job

€3,596median gross pay a month, full-time
€3,184 to €4,202middle half of workers (25% to 75%)
88,609full-time employees counted

German occupation used: Gesundheits- und Krankenpflegehelfer/in (Nursing assistant), occupation code KldB 2010 81301. This is a national figure for all of Germany, before tax and social contributions, including extras such as holiday and Christmas pay.

Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Entgeltatlas (employment statistics), reference date 31 December 2025. Full-time employees subject to social insurance only; civil servants, self-employed people and apprentices are not included. Retrieved 2026-10-13.

Check pay by region, age and gender in the Entgeltatlas

Pay in the UK for this job

£29,084median gross pay a year, full-time
£579median gross pay a week, full-time
298,000full-time jobs (ONS estimate)

UK occupation used: Nursing auxiliaries and assistants (SOC 2020 code 6131). Placeivo matched this to ISCO-08 5321 by job title and duties; the UK and international occupation lists do not line up exactly. National figure for the whole United Kingdom, in pounds sterling (GBP), before income tax and National Insurance.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2025 provisional, Table 14 (occupation by 4-digit SOC 2020): tables 14.7a (annual pay, gross) and 14.1a (weekly pay, gross), full-time employee jobs, United Kingdom. Weekly pay is for April 2025; annual pay is for the tax year ending 5 April 2025, employees in the same job for at least a year. Retrieved 2026-10-13.

See the ONS earnings tables by occupation

UK Skilled Worker visa for this job

Only in some casesGOV.UK level: Medium Skilled
Pay scalegoing rate follows national pay scales

This occupation (UK code 6131, Nursing auxiliaries and assistants) is a medium-skilled job. GOV.UK says a new visa for a medium-skilled job is usually possible only if the job is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, with their own conditions; some people extending a visa they already hold have different rules. Check both lists before applying. There is no figure in the general going-rate table: GOV.UK has separate salary rules for healthcare and education jobs, based on national pay scales (for example NHS pay bands), so the general minimum of £41,700 may not apply. Check the GOV.UK page for healthcare and education jobs. Placeivo matched this UK code to ISCO-08 5321 by job title; the lists do not line up exactly.

This is a summary of official rules, not legal advice. Rules change and some people (for example those already on a Skilled Worker visa) have different rules. Always check GOV.UK before you apply.

Source: UK Visas and Immigration, GOV.UK tables "Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes" and "Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes", updated 2025-07-22, retrieved 2026-10-15. General minimum salary from GOV.UK "Skilled Worker visa: Your job", checked 2026-10-15.

Compare UK visa going rates by job · Eligible occupations (GOV.UK) · Going rates (GOV.UK) · Healthcare and education rules (GOV.UK) · Salary rules (GOV.UK)

Latest health care assistants job ads

Real vacancies from the official public employment services, updated daily. Job titles are translated into English automatically; the full ad opens on the official site in German or Swedish (your browser's translate button turns it into English).

Germany

3,396 open ads
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    Roy Krämer · Schwarzheide · Posted 2026-09-13
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    Seniorenzentrum Weststadt · Ravensburg, Württemberg · Posted 2026-10-18
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    Seniorenzentrum Weststadt · Ravensburg, Württemberg · Posted 2026-10-18
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    AWO GESA GmbH · Troisdorf · Posted 2026-10-18
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    Medical & Care Groth · Bernau bei Berlin · Posted 2026-10-16
  • Nursing assistant
    German title: Pflegehelfer
    HEWAG Seniorenstift Duisburg GmbH · Duisburg · Posted 2026-09-28

Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). Ads are written by employers; Placeivo does not check them. See all ads in Germany

Sweden

3,919 open ads

Source: Arbetsförmedlingen (Swedish Public Employment Service). Ads are written by employers; Placeivo does not check them. See all ads in Sweden

Where health care assistants are needed in Europe

CountryEURES 2025Average gross pay, all service and sales workers (2022)1-bed rent in the capital
AustriaShortage€2,397 a month *Vienna: €1,250
BelgiumShortageNot yet verifiedBrussels: €1,150
BulgariaShortage€510 a monthSofia: €650
CyprusShortageNot yet verifiedNicosia: €750
EstoniaShortage€1,105 a monthTallinn: €720
GermanyShortage€2,479 a monthBerlin: €1,350
GreeceShortage€1,166 a month *Athens: €1,150
IrelandShortage€3,296 a monthDublin: €2,000
ItalyShortage€2,003 a month *Rome: €1,300
LuxembourgShortageNot yet verifiedLuxembourg: €1,900
MaltaShortageNot yet verifiedValletta: €1,050
NetherlandsShortage€2,491 a monthNot yet verified
NorwayShortage€3,853 a monthOslo: €2,000
PolandShortage€892 a monthWarsaw: €840
RomaniaShortage€767 a month *Not yet verified
SloveniaShortage€1,527 a monthLjubljana: €950
FinlandShortage and surplus€2,706 a month *Helsinki: €1,150
SwedenShortage and surplus€2,906 a month *Stockholm: €2,100
LatviaSurplus€928 a monthRiga: €870
PortugalSurplus€1,014 a month *Lisbon: €1,400

Pay: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey 2022, mean gross monthly earnings of all service and sales workers in each country, in euros. This is the average for the whole occupation group, not for health care assistants alone, and before tax. * Firms with 10 or more employees only. Rent: Eurostat, good-quality 1-bedroom flat in the capital, 2025.

What health care assistants do

Health care assistants provide direct personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to patients and residents in a variety of health care settings such as hospitals, clinics and residential nursing care facilities. They generally work in implementation of established care plans and practices, and under the direct supervision of medical, nursing or other health professionals or associate professionals.

Typical tasks

  • Providing care, support and treatment to patients and residents of medical, rehabilitative and residential care facilities according to treatment plans established by medical, nursing and other health professionals
  • Assisting patients with personal and therapeutic care needs such as personal hygiene, feeding, dressing, physical mobility and exercise, communication, taking oral medications and changing dressings
  • Positioning, lifting and turning patients and transporting them in wheelchairs or on movable beds
  • Maintaining patients' environmental hygiene standards, such as cleaning patient rooms and changing bed linen
  • Providing massage and other non-pharmacological pain relief measures, such as during pregnancy and labour
  • Observing patients’ condition, responses and behaviour and reporting changes to a health professional

Finding health care assistants jobs in Europe

  • EURES is the official job portal of the EU public employment services. The search above looks for "Psychiatric aide".
  • Some jobs are regulated professions: before you can work, your qualification may need to be recognised in the new country.
  • If you are not an EU/EEA citizen you will usually need a work permit or a visa such as the EU Blue Card. Check the rules of the country's immigration authority.

Cost of living where the jobs are

Take-home pay needed to rent a good 1-bedroom flat in the capitals of countries reporting a shortage:

About this data

  • Shortage and surplus: European Labour Authority, EURES Report on labour shortages and surpluses 2025, annex table 21 (published 2026). Each country's public employment service reports which occupations it finds hard to fill or in oversupply. Countries not listed did not report this occupation as either.
  • Definition, tasks and job titles: International Labour Organization, ISCO-08 structure and definitions.
  • Pay: Eurostat, Structure of Earnings Survey 2022 (earn_ses22_48), by occupation group. Germany, this exact job: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Entgeltatlas (median pay of full-time employees). United Kingdom, closest UK occupation: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (median pay of full-time employees).
  • Job ads: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Germany) and Arbetsförmedlingen (Sweden), refreshed about once a day.

See all jobs in demand in Europe · Methodology