What Your Employer Actually Pays on Top of Your Gross Salary - Country by Country

What sits between your gross salary and your employer's total cost

When you accept a job offer, the gross salary on your contract is not the full amount your employer pays for your work. On top of gross wages, every EU employer also pays non-wage costs - primarily social contributions - that never show up in your pay slip.

According to Eurostat, labour costs cover wages and salaries in cash and in kind, employers' social security contributions, vocational training costs, and other items such as recruitment costs, expenditure on work clothes, and employment taxes paid by the employer. Non-wage costs are the portion of that total above your gross pay. They are paid by the employer, not deducted from you.

Eurostat estimated average hourly labour costs at €34.9 in the EU in 2025, and €38.2 in the euro area.

How the EU average breaks down

Across the EU in 2025, non-wage costs accounted for 24.8% of total labour costs. In the euro area, the figure stood at 25.6%. Eurostat notes directly that this average masks significant differences between EU countries.

Hourly labour costs ran from €12.0 in Bulgaria to €56.8 in Luxembourg, according to Eurostat's 2025 estimates. The non-wage share of those costs varies just as widely across member states.

Where employers pay the most on top

France and Sweden recorded the highest non-wage cost shares in the EU in 2025. In France, non-wage costs made up 32.3% of total labour costs. In Sweden, the figure was 31.7%. Both sit well above the EU average of 24.8%.

For a job seeker comparing offers across countries, this is relevant context: in France and Sweden, a larger portion of your employer's total spend goes toward contributions above your gross pay relative to the EU average. That is worth factoring in when you evaluate an offer or negotiate compensation.

Where employer contributions are lowest

At the other end of the scale, Romania recorded a non-wage cost share of 4.8% in 2025 - the lowest in the EU. Lithuania followed at 5.5%, and Malta at 5.8%. All three sit well below the EU average of 24.8%.

The spread between France at 32.3% and Romania at 4.8% illustrates how differently EU member states structure employer costs. The same gross salary sits inside a very different total labour cost depending on the country.

Caveats worth knowing before you compare

Eurostat's figures cover the whole economy but exclude some sectors: agriculture, public administration, private households and extra-territorial organisations. The data may not apply equally to every industry or role type.

Non-wage costs consist mainly of employers' social contributions, though they also include vocational training costs, recruitment costs and employment taxes, minus any subsidies the employer receives. These components follow a harmonised EU definition applied across member states, which is what makes the country-by-country comparison meaningful.

If you are evaluating roles across EU countries, the non-wage cost share is a useful data point alongside gross salary: it tells you how much of your total employment cost your employer carries beyond what appears on your contract.

Source: Eurostat, Wages and labour costs.