Hourly labour costs in the EU countries

In 2024, the labour cost of an hour worked was lowest in Bulgaria, at 10.6 euro per hour, and highest in Luxembourg, at 54.9 euro per hour.

From 2016 to 2024, the EU average rose from 25.6 euro per hour to 33.5 euro per hour.

The share of labour costs other than wages and salaries was highest in France, at 32.0%, and lowest in Romania, at 4.8%.

In 2024, the labour cost of an hour worked in the EU was 33.9 euro per hour in industry, 30.0 euro per hour in construction, 33.3 euro per hour in business services and 34.2 euro per hour in education, health and other services.

What employers spend on average for one hour worked by their employees, wages and salaries together with employers' social security contributions and employment taxes, minus subsidies received, in enterprises with 10 or more employees.

Eurostat: “In the context of the Labour Cost Index, Labour Costs are defined as core expenditure borne by employers for the purpose of employing staff. They include employee compensation, with wages and salaries in cash and in kind, employers' social security contributions and employment taxes regarded as labour costs minus any subsidies received, but not vocational training costs or other expenditure such as recruitment costs and spending on working clothes (by contrast with multiannual and annual labour cost data).” (source)

Estimates by Eurostat from two sources of the national statistical institutes. The Labour Cost Survey, a survey of enterprises every four years, gives the level, and the quarterly labour cost index, compiled from surveys and administrative records, carries it forward to the following years.