In 2024, the average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (see methodological notes) were estimated to be €33.5 in the EU and €37.3 in the euro area, up compared with €31.9 and €35.7, respectively, in 2023.
These estimates come from data on labour costs levels published by Eurostat today. This article presents only a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
The average hourly labour costs show significant gaps between EU countries, with the lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€10.6), Romania (€12.5) and Hungary (€14.1) while the highest in Luxembourg (€55.2), Denmark (€50.1) and Belgium (€48.2).
Average hourly labour costs in industry were €33.9 in the EU and €39.8 in the euro area. In construction, they were €30.0 and €33.4, respectively. In services, hourly labour costs varied between €33.3 in the EU and €36.4 in the euro area. In the mainly non-business economy (excluding public administration) they were €34.2 and €37.5, respectively.
The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs (e.g. employers’ social contributions). The share of non-wage costs in total labour costs for the whole economy was 24.7% in the EU and 25.5% in the euro area. The lowest shares of non-wage costs in the EU were recorded in Romania (4.8%), Lithuania (5.4%) and Malta (5.8%) and the highest in France (32.2%) and Sweden (31.6%).
Source dataset: lc_lci_lev
In 2024, compared with 2023, hourly labour costs at whole economy level expressed in € rose by 5.0% in the EU and by 4.5% in the euro area.
Within the euro area, hourly labour costs increased in all countries. The largest increases were recorded in Croatia (+14.2%), Latvia (+12.1%) and Lithuania (+10.8%) and the lowest in Czechia (+1.3%) followed by Finland (+1.8%) and Luxembourg (+2.1%).
For EU countries outside the euro area, the hourly labour costs expressed in national currency increased in 2024 in all countries, with the largest increases recorded in Romania (+14.2%), Bulgaria (+13.9%), Hungary (+13.6%) and Poland (+12.8%). They increased the least in Sweden (+3.6%).
Source: Eurostat, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=ddn-20250328-1
