News articles 31 March 2026

EU hourly labour costs ranged from €12 to €57 in 2025

In 2025, the average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (see methodological notes) were estimated to be €34.9 in the EU and €38.2 in the euro area, up from €33.5 and €36.8, respectively, in 2024.

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.

Lowest hourly labour costs in Bulgaria, highest in Luxembourg

There were significant differences between EU countries in average hourly labour costs. The lowest hourly labour costs were recorded in Bulgaria (€12.0), Romania (€13.6) and Hungary (€15.2), while the highest were in Luxembourg (€56.8), Denmark (€51.7) and the Netherlands (€47.9).

Source dataset: lc_lci_lev

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 24.8% in the EU and 25.6% in the euro area. The lowest shares of non-wage costs in the EU were recorded in Romania (4.8%), Lithuania (5.5%) and Malta (5.8%) and the highest in France (32.3%), Sweden (31.7%) and Slovakia (28.6%).

Hourly labour costs up by 4.1% in the EU in 2025

In 2025, hourly labour costs at the whole economy level expressed in € rose by 4.1% in the EU and by 3.8% in the euro area, compared with 2024.

Within the euro area, hourly labour costs increased in all countries, except Malta (-0.5%). The largest increases were recorded in Bulgaria (+13.1%), Croatia (+11.6%), Slovenia (+9.3%) and Lithuania (+9.2%), whereas the lowest were in France (+2.0%) and Italy (+3.2%), followed by Spain, Cyprus and Luxembourg (+3.5% each).

For EU countries outside the euro area, the hourly labour costs expressed in national currency increased in all countries, with the largest increases recorded in Romania (+10.6%), Hungary (+8.9%) and Poland (+8.8%). They increased the least in Denmark (+3.0%).

For more information

Methodological notes

Although data in this news article refer to 2025, the euro area is calculated in its current composition (including Bulgaria).
In this publication, the whole economy includes all economic activities except NACE Rev. 2 sections: ‘A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing’, ‘O - Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’, ‘T - Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use’ and ‘U - Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies’.
Total labour costs refer to the total expenditure borne by employers to employ staff. They include vocational training costs or other expenditures such as recruitment costs, spending on working clothes, etc. They cover wage and non-wage costs minus subsidies. Wage and salary costs include direct remuneration before deduction of employees’ social contributions, bonuses, and allowances paid by an employer in cash or in kind to an employee in return for work done, payments to employees’ saving schemes, payments for days not worked and remuneration in kind such as food, drink, fuel, company cars, etc. Non-wage costs include the employers’ social contributions plus employment taxes regarded as labour costs minus subsidies, intended to refund part or all of the employer’s cost of direct remuneration.
Labour costs data presented in this news item cover enterprises with 10 or more employees (including apprentices). Estimates are obtained by extrapolating the 2020 Labour Cost Survey (LCS) hourly labour cost data expressed in national currencies using the quarterly Labour Cost Index (LCI) transmitted by EU countries. To calculate monetary estimates in € and derive European aggregates, average annual exchange rates have been used. The LCI not adjusted for calendar effects is used, except for Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway, where only calendar-adjusted data are available.
Austria, Spain, Finland and Iceland: data are taken from national sources.
Estimates for Malta are based on LCS 2016.
Estimates for Belgium for 2025 are not being released due to the unavailability of LCI data.