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%).