Bulgaria has the lowest labor costs in the EU, but the strongest annual growth
In 2021, the labor averages in favor of the union are estimated at 29.1 euros per hour, an increase of 1.7% on an annual basis.
The value of this indicator in the euro area is 32.8 euros, an increase of 1.2% compared to 2020, according to Eurostat.
Average hourly costs for significant significant differences between the EU, with the lowest values recorded in Bulgaria (EUR 7) and Romania (EUR 8.5), and the highest in Denmark (EUR 46.99), Luxembourg (EUR 43) ) and Belgium (€ 41.6).
The difference between Bulgaria and Denmark is 6.7 times.
Hourly labor costs in industry amount to € 29.1 in the EU and € 35.1 in the euro area. In construction it is appropriate 26 and 2.3 euros, in the services sector – 28.8 and 31.6 euros.
The two main components of labor costs are wages and social security. The share of wage payments for total expenditures for the whole economy is 24.6% in the EU and 25.1% in the euro area.
The lowest share of expenditure other than wages registered in Lithuania (3.7%), Romania (4.9%) and Ireland (8.7%), and the highest – in Sweden (32%), France (31.9%) and Italy (28.3%).
Within the euro, hourly labor costs increased in all countries except Italy (-1.6%) and Spain (-0.3%). The highest growth is observed in Lithuania (12.5%), Estonia (6.5%), Cyprus (6.2%), Slovenia (6.2%) and Latvia (6.1%).
In non-euro area countries, hourly labor costs, expressed in national currency, will increase in 2021 in all countries, with the largest increases in Bulgaria (9.1%), Poland (8.2%) and Hungary. 7.3%). The lowest increases are in Sweden and Croatia (3% each).
Women in the EU earn on average 13% less than menIn 2020, women’s gross hourly wages were on average 13% lower than those of men in the union
In 2021, EU countries have extended the support schemes introduced in 2020 to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They consist mainly of short-term employment contracts and temporary redundancies, fully or partially offset by governments.
These schemes are clearly recorded as subsidies or tax incentives with a negative sign in the non-wage component of labor costs, which is from Eurostat.