Press release No. 172 of 16 May 2018
WIESBADEN – Employers in the German industry and the support services sector paid an average of 34.50 euros per hour worked in 2017. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that Germany ranked sixth within the European Union (EU) in terms of the labour cost level, one place higher than in 2016. Compared with the EU average of 26.30 euros, German employers paid 31% more per hour worked. However, compared with our neighbouring country France (36.80 euros), which ranked fifth, it was just under 6% less. Denmark had the highest labour costs per hour worked (43.60 euros), Bulgaria the lowest (4.90 euros).
As regards manufacturing, which is particularly subject to international competition, the price of one hour worked in Germany averaged 40.20 euros in 2017. Here, Germany ranked fourth among the EU countries. The price of one hour worked in the German industry was 49% higher than the EU average (27.00 euros) and just above 6% higher than in France (38.10 euros). Regarding market services, labour costs amounted to 31.50 euros per hour worked. In this respect, Germany ranked ninth in Europe (20% above the EU average and 14% below the costs in France).
Labour costs consist of gross earnings and non-wage costs. In 2017, employers in the German industry and the support services 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 (13th position). The highest non-wage costs per 100 euros of wage were paid in Sweden (49 euros), France (46 euros) and Belgium (43 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 States1 | Industry and the support services sector | Including | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Market services | |||||
| EUR | Change on 2016 in % 2 | EUR | Rank | EUR | Rank | |
1 An a descending order by the labour cost level in industry and the support services sector. Source: own calculations on the basis of Eurostat data of 30 April 2018. | ||||||
| European Union (EU 28) | 26.30 | 2.2 | 27.00 | – | 26.30 | – |
| Euro currency area (EU 19) | 30.60 | 1.8 | 32.80 | – | 29.30 | – |
| Denmark | 43.60 | 1.7 | 44.10 | 1 | 44.30 | 1 |
| Belgium | 41.70 | 1.2 | 43.90 | 2 | 41.10 | 3 |
| Sweden | 41.70 | 1.9 | 42.00 | 3 | 41.30 | 2 |
| Luxembourg | 37.30 | 2.2 | 31.70 | 10 | 40.50 | 4 |
| France | 36.80 | 1.4 | 38.10 | 5 | 36.50 | 5 |
| Germany | 34,50 | 2.2 | 40,20 | 4 | 31.50 | 9 |
| Netherlands | 34.10 | 1.9 | 36.80 | 6 | 33.40 | 6 |
| Austria | 33.70 | 2.4 | 36.10 | 8 | 32.60 | 7 |
| Finland | 33.40 | –0.8 | 36.20 | 7 | 32.00 | 8 |
| Ireland | 29.80 | 2.1 | 31.70 | 9 | 28.80 | 10 |
| Italy | 27.30 | 0.9 | 27.40 | 11 | 27.40 | 11 |
| United Kingdom | 26.80 | 2.7 | 26.20 | 12 | 26.70 | 12 |
| Spain | 21.30 | 0.7 | 23.00 | 13 | 20.60 | 13 |
| Slovenia | 16.90 | 5.6 | 17.00 | 12 | 17.50 | 14 |
| Cyprus | 15.90 | 1.0 | 13.00 | 17 | 16.40 | 15 |
| Greece | 14.30 | 2.8 | 14.70 | 15 | 14.30 | 17 |
| Portugal | 13.40 | 1.7 | 11.60 | 18 | 14.60 | 16 |
| Malta | 12.80 | 2.2 | 13.30 | 16 | 13.00 | 18 |
| Estonia | 12.20 | 7.8 | 11.20 | 20 | 12.50 | 19 |
| Slovenia | 11.40 | 6.1 | 11.40 | 19 | 11.40 | 21 |
| Czech Republic | 11.30 | 7.7 | 11.00 | 21 | 11.50 | 20 |
| Croatia | 9.20 | 5.3 | 8.00 | 24 | 9.80 | 22 |
| Hungary | 9.20 | 8.4 | 8.90 | 22 | 9.40 | 23 |
| Poland | 9.00 | 6.8 | 8.20 | 23 | 9.10 | 24 |
| Latvia | 8.50 | 6.6 | 7.70 | 26 | 8.80 | 25 |
| Lithuania | 8.20 | 9.6 | 5.50 | 25 | 8.50 | 26 |
| Romania | 6.10 | 12.9 | 5.50 | 27 | 6.70 | 27 |
| Bulgaria | 4.90 | 11.0 | 4.20 | 28 | 5.20 | 28 |
| European Union Member States | Employers paid an additional x euros of non-wage costs per 100 euros of gross earnings | |
|---|---|---|
| EUR | Rank | |
| Source: own calculations on the basis of Eurostat data of 3 May 2018. | ||
| European Union (EU 28) | – | |
| Euro currency area (EU 19) | – | |
| Sweden | 49 | 1 |
| France | 46 | 2 |
| Belgium | 43 | 3 |
| Greece | 41 | 4 |
| Lithuania | 41 | 5 |
| Slovakia | 37 | 6 |
| Czech Republic | 37 | 7 |
| Italy | 37 | 8 |
| Estonia | 36 | 9 |
| Austria | 36 | 10 |
| Spain | 35 | 11 |
| Netherlands | 31 | 12 |
| Germany | 28 | 13 |
| Portugal | 27 | 14 |
| Latvia | 26 | 15 |
| Finland | 26 | 16 |
| Romania | 25 | 17 |
| Hungary | 24 | 18 |
| Poland | 22 | 19 |
| Slovenia | 20 | 20 |
| Cyprus | 20 | 21 |
| United Kingdom | 19 | 22 |
| Bulgaria | 18 | 23 |
| Ireland | 18 | 24 |
| Kroatia | 18 | 25 |
| Denmark | 16 | 26 |
| Luxembourg | 14 | 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”. Further official EU statistics are available under "Europe in Figures".
