Salary guide · Ethiopia
Civil servants salary scale Ethiopia 2018 EC: what Directive 1110 says
A revised civil service scale applies from Meskerem 1, 2018 EC. The published copy has no table, so here's what the rules say, with no guessed figures.
Government offices in Ethiopia have been on a revised salary scale since Meskerem 1, 2018 EC, which is 11 September 2025, at both federal and regional level. That's Directive 1110/2018 from the Civil Service Commission. Its Article 5 says the salary table is an annex, but the copy published by the Ministry of Justice stops without one, so we can't print the grades. Figures you see online are from the press. We list what the directive does say, and how to get your own figure.
We read the directive on the Ministry of Justice's site on 2 November 2026, in Amharic. The English here is our own reading of it. The file has five pages of text and no annex.
Who the new scale covers
Article 3 applies the pay change at federal and regional level from Meskerem 1, 2018 EC. It includes civil servants, appointees, security bodies and institutions under special laws. Temporary, contract and project staff on graded posts are covered too (Article 4(9)). Staff on probation also get it (Article 4(6)).
It leaves out government staff already on 42,000 Birr or more a month (Article 3(7)). Bodies that already pay comparatively well may also fall outside it (Article 3(4)). The Commission prepares separate tables for offices with their own special scale (Article 3(5)).
What happens to your pay on the new scale
If your pay falls between two steps of the new scale, it moves up to the nearest higher step, or to the top of the scale (Article 4(19)). Your normal pay rise cycle doesn't change (Article 4(1)(a)), and the change doesn't make you wait a year for a promotion (Article 4(1)(b)). Anyone demoted for discipline gets the change on the lower grade and pay (Article 4(7)).
Nobody can be hired on the old scale from Meskerem 2018 EC (Article 4(15)). So if you've just been offered a government post, your letter should be on the new scale. Article 3(6) also says that in that budget year, no office could ask for a further scale change without direction from the Prime Minister's Office.
Why can't you show me the table?
Because the copy we could open doesn't include it. Article 5 of the directive calls the table an annex, and the file ends at page five of text with no annex. We also tried the Civil Service Commission's own site and couldn't find it there on 2 November 2026. Lowest and highest figures are repeated widely online, but we could only trace them to press reports, so we won't print them.
If you find a copy with the Commission's stamp, or the annex is published, tell us through the contact page and we'll add the grades here with the source.
How to find your own figure
Ask your office's human resources unit for your grade and step on the new scale, and for a copy of the table it uses. If you're applying, look for the grade or the pay in the vacancy notice, and ask the office if it isn't there. The Civil Service Commission's phone number on its site is +251 11 551 7070, and it can answer questions the directive doesn't cover (Article 8).
What you keep from a government salary
Once you know your gross figure, the sums are the same as for anyone else. Civil servants pay 7% pension under Proclamation 1267/2022, and the office adds 11%. Tax comes from the Proclamation 1395/2025 table. For example, a gross of 15,000 Birr leaves 10,750 after 3,200 tax and 1,050 pension. That's a sum to show how it works, and it isn't the pay of any grade. Our calculator does it for any figure.
Government jobs are free to apply for. Nobody should pay for a job or for a place on a list.
Sources
Checked 2 November 2026. Each figure keeps the period and scope of its source.