March 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria posted the lowest average hourly labour costs in the economy out of the 27 EU member states in 2022, at 8.2 euro ($8.9) per hour, despite marking the highest annual increase outside the euro area, of 15.3%, the bloc's statistical office said.
Romania's average hourly labour costs were second-lowest in the EU, at 9.5 euro, as the country also saw one of the sharpest increases, at 12.2%, Eurostat said in an annual survey published on Thursday.
In comparison, at 50.7 euro per hour, Luxembourg had the highest average hourly labour costs in the bloc, followed by Denmark with 46.8 euro and Belgium with 43.5 euro.
Overall, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy went up to 30.5 euro across the EU and 34.3 euro in the euro area in 2022, from 29 euro and 32.8 euro in 2021, respectively.
The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries, along with non-wage costs such as employers' social contributions, Eurostat added. The share of non-wage costs in total labour costs for the whole economy was 24.8% in the EU and 25.5% in the euro area.
Romania recorded the second-lowest share of non-wage costs, at 5.3%.
Below are data on hourly labour costs in euro per country for the EU members from Southeast Europe (SEE):
EU member from SEE |
2022 |
2021 |
Bulgaria |
8.2 |
7.1 |
Croatia |
12.1 |
11.2 |
Greece |
14.5 |
14 |
Romania |
9.5 |
8.5 |
Slovenia |
23.1 |
22 |
EU |
30.5 |
29 |
Euro area |
34.3 |
32.8 |
Source: Eurostat.
($1 = 0.9186 euro)