Labour cost levels by NACE Rev. 2 activity - lc_ncost_r2

Data - Eurostat

Last observation: 2024 (N = 619609)

First observation: 2008 (N = 841554)

Last data update: 17 sept. 2026, 23:14

Last compile: 20 sept. 2026, 22:59

Structure

freq

currency

unit

sizeclas

nace_r2

lcstruct

geo

Total Labour Costs per Hour (Business Economy, 10+ employees)

France, Germany, Italy, Spain

lc_ncost_r2 |>
  filter(geo %in% c("FR", "DE", "IT", "ES"),
         currency == "EUR",
         unit == "P_SAL_H",
         sizeclas == "GE10",
         lcstruct == "D01",
         nace_r2 == "B-S_X_O") |>
  year_to_date() |>
  add_flag_color("Geo") |>
  ggplot() + geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  geom_point(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  theme_minimal() + scale_color_identity() + add_flags +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(2005, 2100, 4), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y")) +
  xlab("") + ylab("Total labour costs (€ per hour)")

France: Labour Cost Structure

Total, Wages and Salaries, Direct Remuneration

lc_ncost_r2 |>
  filter(geo == "FR",
         currency == "EUR",
         unit == "P_SAL_H",
         sizeclas == "GE10",
         nace_r2 == "B-S_X_O") |>
  year_to_date() |>
  ggplot() + geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = Lcstruct)) +
  geom_point(aes(x = date, y = values, color = Lcstruct)) +
  theme_minimal() +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(2005, 2100, 4), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y")) +
  theme(legend.position = "right", legend.title = element_blank()) +
  xlab("") + ylab("Labour costs (€ per hour)")

Latest Wave: Labour Costs by Country and Sector

latest_y <- lc_ncost_r2 |>
  filter(geo %in% c("FR", "DE", "IT", "ES"),
         currency == "EUR",
         unit == "P_SAL_H",
         sizeclas == "GE10",
         lcstruct == "D01",
         !is.na(values)) |>
  summarise(m = max(time)) |>
  pull(m)

lc_ncost_r2 |>
  filter(geo %in% c("FR", "DE", "IT", "ES"),
         currency == "EUR",
         unit == "P_SAL_H",
         sizeclas == "GE10",
         lcstruct == "D01",
         nace_r2 %in% c("B-S_X_O", "C", "F", "G-N"),
         time == latest_y) |>
  select(Nace_r2, Geo, values) |>
  spread(Geo, values) |>
  print_table_conditional()

Nace_r2	France	Germany	Italy	Spain
Construction	40.20	39.50	25.77	22.94
Industry, construction and services (except public administration, defense, compulsory social security)	44.29	45.12	30.72	25.54
Manufacturing	46.96	50.44	31.58	27.16
Services of the business economy	44.67	42.98	29.05	24.42