Jobs in Monaco 2026: Who Hires, What It Pays, Work Permits

The key figures

Monaco has far more jobs than residents: 77,866 jobs at the end of 2025 for 38,857 residents, and 59,724 people working in its private sector, nine in ten of whom live in France or Italy (IMSEE). Most jobs are in services: temporary and support work, hotels and restaurants, construction, finance and professional services. The live listings on this page come from our job search partner and include the Riviera towns most Monaco workers live in. Every foreign employee needs a work permit, and Monaco’s law gives some candidates priority, so it helps to know how hiring works before you apply.

Who employs the most people

From IMSEE’s Observatoire de l’Emploi 2025 (new sector groups from 2026). Temporary work agencies alone employed 10.8% of private-sector staff, although their numbers fell 17.3% over 2025.

Monaco has 6,378 private employers, but most are tiny: 74.4% have fewer than five employees, and 2,680 are households employing domestic staff. Only 41 employ 200 people or more. The biggest single employers are the State, with 5,393 civil servants at the end of 2025, and the Société des Bains de Mer (casinos, hotels and restaurants), with 4,723 staff at 31 March 2025 (IMSEE, Monaco en chiffres 2026).

What jobs pay

Half of private-sector employees earned more than €3,475 a month gross in 2025 (full-time equivalent, bonuses included). Finance and insurance has the highest median, €6,858; administrative and support services the lowest, €2,764. The legal minimum is €12.31 an hour plus a 5% allowance. Details: average salary in Monaco and minimum wage. Residents who aren’t French pay no income tax, but employees pay about 13% in social contributions: see tax in Monaco.

How hiring works: priority and the work permit

1. The employer declares the job. Every job offer must be declared to the Service de l’Emploi, which has four working days to send the employer any priority candidates (Gouvernement Princier).

2. Priority candidates come first. For candidates with the skills for the job, Monaco’s 1957 hiring law sets this order (Law No. 629, art. 5):

1. Monegasque nationals
2. Foreigners married to a Monegasque (not legally separated), or born to or adopted by a Monegasque
3. Foreigners in a registered cohabitation contract with a Monegasque
4. Foreign parents of a Monegasque child
5. Foreigners who live in Monaco
6. Foreigners who live in the neighbouring communes (Cap d’Ail, La Turbie, Beausoleil, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin), are allowed to work there and have already worked in Monaco

If the employer takes none of them, it can hire anyone else. Redundancies run in the reverse order (art. 6).

3. The employer applies for a hiring authorisation. After the four days, if no priority candidate is retained, the employer can propose its own choice and files a Demande d’Autorisation d’Embauchage (DAE) online, signed by both sides. “No foreigner may hold a private job in Monaco unless they hold a work permit”, and a change of employer or occupation needs a new one (Law No. 629, art. 1). The permit is issued after opinions from the police (Sûreté Publique) and occupational health.

4. You start work. Once the Direction du Travail approves, the employee gets the work permit and is registered with the CCSS (health) and CAR (pension) funds.

Non-EU candidates who don’t already hold a French residence permit that allows work in the Alpes-Maritimes need extra steps: the employer has to contact the head of the Service de l’Emploi first.

Working hours and holiday

The legal working week is 39 hours, with overtime paid at +25% for the first eight extra hours and +50% after that, and a cap of 48 hours in any one week (Ordinance-Law No. 677). Paid holiday is 2.5 working days a month, up to 30 working days a year, with extra days after 20, 25 and 30 years’ service (Law No. 619).

Where Monaco’s workers live

Most commute: 81.5% of private-sector employees live in France (Nice alone accounts for more than 16,000, Menton almost 7,300, Beausoleil 5,709 and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin 4,422), and 8.3% in Italy, including more than 2,300 in Ventimiglia. Only one employee in ten lives in Monaco. If you’re thinking of moving, see living in Monaco and Monaco residency.

About the listings

The jobs on this page are live listings from Careerjet, our job search partner, for Monaco and the surrounding area; applying takes you to the employer’s or agency’s site. Paygrade doesn’t screen the employers, so check any offer, and never pay to apply for a job.

Questions

Can a foreigner get a job in Monaco?

Yes: about 98% of private-sector employees in Monaco are foreign nationals, most of them French and Italian. Every foreign employee needs a work permit, which the employer applies for before you start. Monegasques, then five priority groups (such as spouses of Monegasques and residents of Monaco) come first, and only if none of them is taken can the employer hire someone else.

How do I get a job in Monaco?

Apply to employers directly, through recruitment and temporary work agencies (agencies placed 6,458 people at the end of 2025, 10.8% of private-sector employees) or through the Service de l'Emploi, where every vacancy must be declared. Once an employer picks you, they file a hiring authorisation request (DAE) and, once the Direction du Travail approves it, you get your work permit.

Do you need to speak French to work in Monaco?

For most jobs it is expected. French is Monaco's official language and the language of its administration and labour law, and most job adverts are in French, as the live listings on this page show.

Which sectors employ the most people in Monaco?

At the end of 2025: administrative and support services (9,627 employees, mostly temporary work agencies), hotels and restaurants (8,988), construction (6,245), health, education and administration (4,683), professional and technical services (4,652) and finance and insurance (4,621), according to IMSEE.

Do I need to live in Monaco to work there?

No. Nine in ten private-sector employees live outside Monaco: 81.5% in France, mainly Nice, Menton, Beausoleil and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, and 8.3% in Italy (IMSEE, 2025). You need a work permit, not a Monaco residence card.

More on working in Monaco

• Working in Monaco: the overview, with pay, tax and the rules in one place
• Tax in Monaco: No income tax for residents (except the French), the social contributions every employee pays, and who pays French tax
• Average salary in Monaco: Official private-sector pay from IMSEE: the median, the average, pay by sector and take-home pay
• Monaco residency: Who needs a residence card, the four card types, what you must prove and where to apply
• Living in Monaco: Property prices by district, how renting works, where Monaco's workers live and what moving involves
• Minimum wage in Monaco: €12.31 an hour from 1 June 2026, plus Monaco's 5% allowance, with rates by age and overtime
• Public holidays in Monaco: All 12 public holidays in 2026, what happens when one falls on a Sunday, and pay for working them

Sources

• IMSEE, Observatoire de l'Emploi 2025 (April 2026)
• IMSEE, Les salaires dans le secteur privé en 2025 (April 2026)
• Law No. 629 of 17 July 1957 on hiring and dismissal, arts. 1 to 6, as amended in 2021 (Légimonaco) (consolidated text)
• Gouvernement Princier (MonEntreprise), Recruter du personnel (updated 16 March 2026)
• IMSEE, Monaco en chiffres, édition 2026 (SBM and civil service headcounts) (June 2026)