The average hourly labour cost in Malta is less than half the EU average, according to figures issued by Eurostat today.

The average hourly labour costs were estimated to be €23.1 in the EU27 business economy in 2011, and €27.6 in the euro area.

Among the Member States for which estimates are available the highest labour costs per hour in the business economy were obtained for Belgium (EUR 38.2), Denmark (EUR 37.6), Sweden (EUR 36.0), France (EUR 33.1) and Luxembourg (EUR 32.8). The Netherlands (EUR 30.4), Germany (EUR 29.1), Finland (EUR 28.9), Austria (EUR 28.0), Ireland (EUR 27.9) and Italy (EUR 26.1) stood above the EU-27 average.

The lowest labour cost per hour were obtained for Bulgaria (EUR 3.1), Romania (EUR 4.2), Lithuania (EUR 5.3), Latvia (EUR 5.7), Poland (EUR 7.0), Hungary (EUR 7.3) and Estonia (EUR 7.7). Slovakia (EUR 8.0), the Czech Republic (EUR 9.9), Malta (EUR 11.5), Portugal (EUR 12.0), Slovenia (EUR 14.1), Cyprus (EUR 16.2), Greece (EUR 17.5), the United Kingdom (EUR 20.0) and Spain (EUR 20.2) stood below the EU-27 average.

The hourly labour cost in manufacturing for the EU-27 was EUR 22.7 in 2010 compared with EUR 22.5 in 2009 (+1.1 %). For the euro area it was EUR 28.4 in 2010 compared with EUR 28.1 in 2009 (+1.0 %).

The hourly labour cost in manufacturing is very similar to the hourly labour cost in the business economy as a whole. In a majority of Member States the difference is less than +/- 10 %. The exceptions are Germany on one side, where the hourly labour cost in manufacturing was 13 % higher, and Luxembourg, Latvia, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus, where the hourly labour cost in manufacturing was between 13 % and 20 % lower.

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