Euro Area Labor Costs

Data Employment

Source: Eurostat
Source Link: https://ec.europa.eu/
Frequency: Quarterly
Next Release(s): March 19th, 2026 5:00 AM

Latest Updates

Euro area hourly labour costs rose +3.3% YoY (vs 3.5% YoY expected) in Q3 2025, while EU costs increased +3.7% YoY, indicating continued but moderating cost growth.
- In the euro area, wages and salaries increased +3.0% YoY and non-wage costs rose +4.0% YoY, showing faster growth in ancillary labour costs than base pay
- By sector in the euro area, labour costs rose +3.3% YoY in industry, +4.3% in construction, and +3.2% in services, with construction remaining the fastest-growing segment..
- In the EU, wages and salaries grew +3.5% YoY and non-wage costs increased +4.2% YoY, keeping overall labour cost growth above the euro area pace.
- In the EU, labour costs increased +3.7% YoY in industry, +4.7% in construction, and +3.7% in services, indicating broadly similar sectoral patterns to the euro area.
- The highest EU wage cost increases by activity were in other service activities (+4.5% YoY), construction (+4.3%), and professional, scientific and technical activities (+4.3%), while electricity, gas and steam recorded the smallest rise (+2.5%).
- Non-wage costs in the EU rose fastest in construction (+5.8% YoY), other service activities (+5.6%), and real estate (+5.5%), highlighting strong growth in employer cost components beyond wages.
- Across countries, the largest wage cost increases were in Bulgaria (+12.4% YoY), Lithuania (+9.7%), Croatia (+9.1%), and Hungary (+8.8%), while France (+1.3%), Slovenia (+1.6%), Spain (+2.0%), Austria (+2.1%), and Italy (+2.4%) saw much smaller gains; Malta recorded a -1.4% decline.
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Euro area hourly labor costs rose 3.6% YoY in Q2 2025, up from 3.4% YoY in Q1 2025, with both wages and non-wage costs contributing to the increase.
- In the euro area, wages & salaries rose 3.7% YoY (vs 3.5% YoY previously) and non-wage costs increased 3.4% (vs 3.2% YoY previously).
- By sector in the euro area, labor costs rose 3.3% YoY in industry, 4.7% in construction, and 4.3% in services, while the non-business economy increased 2.7%.
- In the EU, labor costs grew 3.9% YoY in industry, 4.8% in construction, and 4.6% in services, with the non-business economy up 3.1%.
- Professional, scientific & technical activities saw the highest wage growth in the EU at +8.9% YoY, followed by mining & quarrying at +6.7%; real estate activities posted the lowest increase at +1.6%.
- Non-wage costs in the EU rose fastest in professional, scientific & technical activities (+7.3% YoY) and mining & quarrying (+6.6%), while administrative & support services recorded the lowest increase at +1.8%.
- Among member states, Bulgaria (+13.4% YoY), Hungary (+11.0%), Romania (+10.4%), Estonia (+10.3%), and Greece (+10.1%) recorded the steepest wage cost increases, while France (+1.4%), Denmark (+1.5%), and Malta (+1.9%) saw the smallest gains.
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Euro area hourly labor costs rose 3.4% YoY in Q1 2025, down from 3.8% YoY in Q4 2024 and the lowest since Q3 2022.
- Wage growth slowed to 3.4% YoY, down from 4.1% YoY in the previous quarter and the weakest since Q3 2022.
- The non-wage component of labor costs increased 3.4% YoY, up from 2.7% YoY previously.
- By sector in the euro area, labor costs increased 4.7% YoY (prev 4.2% YoY) in construction, 4.3% (prev 3.8% YoY) in services, and 2.5% (prev 4.2% YoY) in industry.
- Professional, scientific & technical activities saw the largest wage (+7.4%) and non-wage (+6.2%) increases.
- Romania (+16.1% YoY), Croatia (+13.5%), and Bulgaria (+13.0%) recorded the highest national wage growth; Malta (+1.6%) and France (+1.9%) had the lowest.
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Euro area hourly labor costs rose 3.7% YoY in Q4 2024, down from 4.5% YoY in Q3 2024.
- In the euro area, wages rose 4.1% YoY and non-wage costs rose 2.6%; in the EU, wages rose 4.7% YoY and non-wage costs rose 3.0%.
- Sector-wise, euro area labor costs rose 4.3% YoY in industry, 4.0% in construction, and 3.7% in services.
- In the EU, labor costs rose 4.9% YoY in industry, 4.5% in construction, and 4.2% in services.
- Mining & quarrying saw the highest wage and non-wage cost growth (+6.8% and +7.1% YoY, respectively).
- Croatia (+13.9% YoY), Poland (+13.8%), and Romania (+13.1%) recorded the strongest national wage growth, while real estate had the weakest sectoral wage growth (+2.9%).
Source
Euro area labor costs were up 4.6% YoY in Q3 2024, down from an upwardly revised Q2 2024 rate of 5.2% YoY (previous estimate was 4.7% YoY). Wage costs were up 4.4% YoY, down from 4.6% YoY in Q2 and 5.1% YoY a year ago. Labor costs are up around the same rate across all sectors with construction labor cost growth in a slight lead at 5.0% YoY compared to industry at 4.6% YoY and services at 4.5% YoY.

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