(06 April 2017) – In 2016, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were estimated to be €25.4 in the European Union and €29.8 in the euro area.
However, this average masks significant gaps between EU Member States, with the lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€4.4), Romania (€5.5), Lithuania (€7.3), Latvia (€7.5), Hungary (€8.3) and Poland (€8.6), and the highest in Denmark (€42.0), Belgium (€39.2), Sweden (€38.0), Luxembourg (€36.6) and France (€35.6).
Labour costs are made up of wages & salaries and non-wage costs such as employers’ social contributions. The share of non-wage costs in the whole economy was 23.9% in the EU and 26.0% in the euro area, ranging from 6.6% in Malta to 33.2% in France.