Euro gulf in labour costs revealed
Huge differences in hourly labour costs in the industrial and services sectors across Europe are revealed in new figures out today.
They range from just €8.13 in Portugal to €28.56 in Sweden, with Irish labour costs in the lower end of the bracket at €17.43.
The gulf widens when the figures include the poorer countries from central and eastern Europe which join the EU next year: Latvia’s hourly labour cost is just €2.42.
The figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office in Luxembourg, are based on total annual labour costs divided by the number of hours worked per year.
Across 13 EU nations, wages and salaries amount to 75.7% of total labour costs on average, with 21.5% taken up by employers’ social contributions.
The figures (hourly labour costs worked per hour in industry and services in 2000) -
Sweden – €28.56
Denmark – €27.10
Germany – €26.54
France – €24.39
Luxembourg – €24.23
UK – €23.85
Austria – €23.60
Netherlands – €22.99
Finland – €22.13
Ireland – €17.43
Spain – €14.22
Greece – €10.40
Portugal – €8.13
Proportion of total labour costs in industry and services which are gross wages and salaries (cash, bonuses, plus payments in kind such as staff housing, company cars, company products, canteens and meal vouchers, staff shops, kindergarten and day nurseries).
Germany – 87.7%
Ireland – 85.0%
Luxembourg – 84.2%
UK – 81.5%
Portugal – 79.8%
Finland – 77.8%
Germany – 75.4%
Spain – 74.5%
Greece – 74.1%
Austria – 72.1%
France – 68.1%
Sweden – 66.5%
