In April this year, Eurostat published a report about the development of hourly labour costs in the European Union.
Compared to the previous year, in 2018 the labour costs of the entire economy, expressed in €, increased by 2.7% in the European Union and 2.2% in the Eurozone.
Within the Eurozone, Slovakia (+ 6.8%) was among the countries with the highest growth, together with Latvia (+12.9), Lithuania (+ 10.4%), Estonia (+ 6.8%).
In 2017, hourly labour costs in Slovakia were € 10.9. In 2018 these costs increased to € 11.6. , From this amount, 26.7% is the employer contribution to the state.
Hourly labour costs in the Czech Republic increased from CZK 297.3 to CZK 322.1, what is an increase of 11.2%. In 2018, in Czech Republic the employer contributions to the state represented 26.9% of the total labour costs.
Compared to the EU average labour costs (€ 27.4), the costs in Slovakia (€ 11.6) and in the Czech Republic (€ 12.6) are still relatively low. The highest hourly labour costs are in Denmark (€ 43.5) and in Luxembourg (€ 40.6). The lowest ones in Romania (€ 6.9) and in Bulgaria (€ 5.4)
Source: Eurostat