Press release No. 143 of 26 April 2016
WIESBADEN – Employers in the German private sector paid an average 32.70 euros per hour worked in 2015. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that Germany ranked eighth within the European Union (EU) in terms of the labour cost level. Compared with the EU average, employers in the German private sector paid 26% more per hour worked. However, compared with our neighbouring country France (35.70 euros), for example, it was a good 8% less. Denmark had the highest labour costs per hour worked (42.70 euros), Bulgaria the lowest (4.10 euros).
As regards manufacturing, which is particularly subject to international competition, the price of one hour worked in Germany amounted to an average 38.00 euros in 2015. Here, Germany ranked fourth among the EU countries. The price of one hour worked in the German industry was 44% higher than the EU average (26.30 euros) and nearly 3% above the relevant price in France (37.00 euros). Regarding market services, labour costs amounted to 29.90 euros per hour worked. In this respect, Germany ranked ninth in Europe (15% above the EU average and 16% below the costs in France).
Labour costs consist of gross earnings and non-wage costs. In 2015, employers in the German private sector paid an additional 28 euros of non-wage costs per 100 euros of gross earnings. This means that non-wage costs in Germany were below the EU average of 31 euros. Among the EU countries, Germany ranked in the middle (14th position). The highest non-wage costs per 100 euros of wage were paid in Sweden (48 euros), France (46 euros) and Belgium (44 euros), the lowest in Malta (9 euros). The main component of non-wage costs is the employers’ social contributions, that is, especially the employers’ statutory social security contributions, expenditure on employee pension schemes and expenditure on continued pay in case of sickness.
| European Union Member States (in a descending order by the labour cost level in the private sector) | Private sector | Including | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Market services | |||||
| EUR | Change on 2014 in % 1 | EUR | Rank | EUR | Rank | |
1 The rates of change are calendar adjusted and have been calculated in the relevant national currency. Source: own calculations on the basis of Eurostat data of 15 April 2016 | ||||||
| European Union (EU 28) | 25.90 | 2.1 | 26.30 | – | 26.10 | – |
| Euro currency area (EU 19) | 29.60 | 1.5 | 31.80 | – | 28.40 | – |
| Denmark | 42.70 | 1.7 | 42.40 | 2 | 43.10 | 1 |
| Belgium | 41.10 | 0.1 | 43.30 | 1 | 40.60 | 2 |
| Sweden | 40.10 | 2.8 | 41.00 | 3 | 39.30 | 3 |
| Luxembourg | 36.00 | 0.3 | 31.10 | 9 | 39.10 | 4 |
| France | 35.70 | 1.1 | 37.00 | 5 | 35.60 | 5 |
| Finland | 33.50 | 1.6 | 36.80 | 6 | 31.70 | 7 |
| Netherlands | 33.20 | 0.5 | 35.00 2 | 7 | 32.702 | 6 |
| Germany | 32.70 | 2.7 | 38.00 | 4 | 29.90 | 9 |
| Austria | 32.50 | 3.3 | 35.00 | 8 | 31.20 | 8 |
| United Kingdom | 29.00 | 3.9 | 28.30 | 11 | 29.00 | 10 |
| Ireland | 28.70 | 1.1 | 30.60 | 10 | 27.70 | 11 |
| Italy | 27.20 | 0.0 | 27.40 | 12 | 27.10 | 12 |
| Spain | 21.10 | 0.2 | 22.70 | 13 | 20.30 | 13 |
| Slovenia | 15.70 | 1.4 | 15.40 | 14 | 16.50 | 14 |
| Cyprus | 15.50 | –0.8 | 12.80 | 16 | 15.90 | 15 |
| Greece 2 | 13.60 | –6.9 | 14.10 | 15 | 13.50 | 17 |
| Portugal | 12.90 | 2.9 | 11.00 | 18 | 14.20 | 16 |
| Malta | 12.60 | 2.5 | 12.50 | 17 | 13.00 | 18 |
| Estonia | 10.70 | 4.6 | 10.00 | 20 | 10.90 | 19 |
| Slovenia | 10.40 | 3.8 | 10.20 | 19 | 10.50 | 20 |
| Czech Republic | 10.10 | 4.4 | 9.80 | 21 | 10.30 | 21 |
| Croatia | 9.50 | 1.7 | 8.30 | 22 | 10.20 | 22 |
| Poland | 8.40 | 4.0 | 7.60 | 24 | 8.50 | 23 |
| Hungary | 8.10 | 3.8 | 7.80 | 23 | 8.30 | 24 |
| Latvia | 7.50 | 7.6 | 6.70 | 25 | 7.80 | 25 |
| Lithuania | 6.90 | 5.5 | 6.50 | 26 | 7.10 | 26 |
| Romania | 5.00 | 7.6 | 4.50 | 27 | 5.40 | 27 |
| Bulgaria | 4.10 | 7.2 | 3.40 | 28 | 4.30 | 28 |
| European Union Member States | Employers paid an additional x euros of non-wage costs per 100 euros of gross earnings | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR | Rank | |
1 The figures for Greece and Croatia refer to three and two quarters, respectively, of the reference year 2015. Source: own calculations on the basis of Eurostat data of 15 April 2016 | ||
| European Union (EU 28) | 31 | – |
| Euro currency area (EU 19) | 34 | – |
| Sweden | 48 | 1 |
| France | 46 | 2 |
| Belgium | 44 | 3 |
| Lithuania | 40 | 4 |
| Greece 1 | 39 | 5 |
| Italy | 39 | 6 |
| Czech Republic | 37 | 7 |
| Estonia | 36 | 8 |
| Austria | 36 | 9 |
| Slovakia | 36 | 10 |
| Spain | 35 | 11 |
| Netherlands | 30 | 12 |
| Hungary | 29 | 13 |
| Germany | 28 | 14 |
| Romania | 28 | 15 |
| Finland | 27 | 16 |
| Portugal | 27 | 17 |
| Latvia | 25 | 18 |
| Poland | 22 | 19 |
| Cyprus | 20 | 20 |
| Slovenia | 19 | 21 |
| United Kingdom | 19 | 22 |
| Bulgaria | 18 | 23 |
| Ireland | 18 | 24 |
| Kroatia 1 | 18 | 25 |
| Luxembourg | 16 | 26 |
| Denmark | 15 | 27 |
| Malta | 9 | 28 |
Time series on labour costs in Germany in a breakdown by economic branch are available in the GENESIS-Online database under the search word “Jahresschätzung Arbeitskosten”.