(27 March 2014) – In 2013, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were estimated to be €23.7 in the EU28 and €28.4 in the euro area.
However, this average masks significant differences between EU Member States, with the lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€3.7), Romania (€4.6), Lithuania (€6.2) and Latvia (€6.3), and the highest in Sweden (€40.1), Denmark (€38.4), Belgium (€38.0), Luxembourg (€35.7) and France (€34.3).
Within the business economy, labour costs per hour were highest in industry (€24.6 in the EU28 and €31.0 in the euro area), followed by services (€23.9 and €28.0 respectively) and construction (€21.0 and €24.5). In the mainly non-business economy (excluding public administration), labour costs per hour were €23.2 in the EU28 and €27.7 in the euro area.
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 23.7% in the EU28 and 25.9% in the euro area, varying between 8.0% in Malta and 33.3% in Sweden.