European Wages and Labour Costs: A Country-by-Country Breakdown

Wages and employer labour costs differ substantially across EU member states. Eurostat publishes regular statistics on both - wages covering what employees receive, and labour costs covering the full employer expense, including non-wage items such as social contributions. Here is what the data shows.

Average Hourly Labour Costs Across the EU

According to Eurostat, the average hourly labour cost in the EU was estimated at €34.9 in 2025. In the euro area, the figure was €38.2.

These estimates cover wages, salaries and non-wage costs. The data excludes agriculture, public administration, private households and some other sectors.

The national range is wide. Hourly labour costs started at €12 in Bulgaria and reached €56.8 in Luxembourg.

Wages vs. Non-Wage Costs: The Employer Split

Not all of an employer's labour spend reaches the employee as pay. Non-wage costs - mainly social contributions payable by the employer - accounted for 24.8% of total labour costs across the EU in 2025 (25.6% in the euro area).

That share varied sharply by country. France recorded the highest non-wage cost share at 32.3%, followed by Sweden at 31.7%. At the other end, Romania's share was 4.8%, Lithuania's was 5.5% and Malta's was 5.8%.

Median Gross Hourly Earnings by Country

Eurostat's 2022 earnings data covers enterprises with 10 or more employees, excluding agriculture, fishing, public administration, private households and extra-territorial organisations. Gross earnings include all bonuses and monetary pay before tax and employee social contributions. The median is the point at which half of employees in the sample earn less and half earn more.

Denmark recorded the highest median gross hourly earnings at €29.8. Behind it were Luxembourg (€24), Belgium (€23.8), Ireland (€20.3), Germany (€19.4), Finland and Sweden (€19.3 each) and the Netherlands (€19).

The lowest medians were in Bulgaria (€4.1), Romania (€5.6), Hungary (€5.7), Portugal (€6.2), Croatia (€6.8) and Poland (€6.9).

In euro terms, the highest national median gross hourly earnings were 7.4 times higher than the lowest.

Earnings in Purchasing Power Standards

Raw euro figures do not account for different price levels across countries. Eurostat also expresses median earnings in purchasing power standards (PPS), which eliminate price level differences between countries.

In PPS, the gap narrows: the highest national median was 3.3 times higher than the lowest, compared with 7.4 times in euros.

The top PPS medians were in Denmark (22.4 PPS), Belgium (21.3 PPS), Luxembourg (18.4 PPS) and Germany (17.3 PPS).

The lowest PPS medians were recorded in Bulgaria (6.7 PPS), Portugal (7.4 PPS), Hungary and Latvia (8.9 PPS each), Croatia (9.4 PPS), Slovakia (9.7 PPS), Greece (9.8 PPS) and Romania (9.9 PPS).

Low-Wage Earners Across the EU

Eurostat defines low-wage earners as employees who earn two-thirds or less of national median gross hourly earnings. In 2022, 14.7% of EU employees fell into this category, down from 15.2% in 2018.

The share varied widely. Bulgaria had the highest rate at 26.8%, followed by Romania (23.9%), Latvia (23.3%), Greece (21.7%), Estonia (21.2%) and Cyprus (20%).

The lowest shares were in Portugal (1.8%), Sweden (4.1%), Finland (6.5%), Italy (8.8%), Slovenia (9.4%) and France and Denmark (9.7% each).

Source: Eurostat, Wages and labour costs.