Labor costs in Greece – wages and non-wage burdens, such as social security contributions – reached 14.5 euros per hour in 2017, according to figures released this week by Eurostat.
The Eurozone average was 30.3 euros. In terms of the hourly average among EU member-states, the lowest hourly average was in Bulgaria (4.9 euros), followed by Romania (6.3 euros).
Conversely, non-Eurozone Denmark recorded an average hourly labor cost of 42.5 euros, followed by Belgium with 39.4 euros and Luxembourg, 37.6 euros.
Eurostat noted that the figures are derived from businesses that employ at least 10 people, and also exclude wage-earners in public administration.
The same figure for Greece in 2008 was 16.8 euros, falling to 14.1 euros in 2015, the “annus horribilis” of the country’s eight-year-long economic crisis. The figure rose only marginally in 2016, to 14.2 euros per hour.
