The going rate for a Civil Engineering graduate in Sweden is about 18 000 SEK (slightly more than US$2000) per month. This is slightly higher for computer oriented proffesions, but not always, as Swedish engineers are grossly underpayed compared to their EC and US/Canada counterparts. An expert in a highly specialized field, such as network designing or some forms of situation specific coding (such as controlprograms for the Swedish military unmaned Helo experiment) can get as much as 35 000 (about $4000) with a few (say 5) years of experience. These are the correct numbers but you have to calculate taxes and benefits into this. Income tax in Sweden ranges from 30% to 50%. Benefits are usually nonexistent, instead employees are expected to rely on the state benefits, such as fairly cheap and pretty good medical and dental care (optometrists and contacts are another matter). Companies often sponsor employees with cars, mobile phones and similar essentials, but they count as part of the salary and you have to tax for them.