Estonia records largest hourly labor costs increase in EU
According to Eurostat, hourly labor costs in the EU in 2014 ranged from 3.8 euros in Bulgaria to 40.3 euros in Denmark.
Labor costs are made up of wages and salaries and non-wage costs such as employer's social contributions.
Average hourly labor costs in the EU were 24.6 euros and in the euro area (EA) 29.2 euros, Eurostat reports. In Estonia it was 9.8 euros, 6.6 percent up from 9.2 euros in 2013. In the past ten years, the amount has more than doubled (4.3 euros in 2004). Of the 9.8 euros, non-wage costs to the employer made up 26.3 percent.
The average non-wage costs in the EU were a slightly lower 24.4 percent. They are highest in France (33.1 percent) and Sweden (31.6 percent), and lowest in Malta (6.9 percent) and Denmark (13.1 percent).
Whereas in the EU and EA the highest average labor costs are in the industry sector (25.5 and 32 euros respectively), in Estonia it's the construction sector workers who earn the most (11.5 euros), followed by service (10.4) and business (10.2) sectors.
Editor: M. Oll