Luxembourg has an average net wage of 49.7 euros per hour – the highest in Europe. In second place is Iceland (€47.0), followed by Norway (€45.8) and Denmark (€44.7).
At the other end of the table are Latvia (12.9 euros), Romania (12.9 euros) and Bulgaria (10.5 euros) with the lowest average hourly wage.
Heterogeneous wage growth
At the same time, Bulgaria recorded the highest net wage growth of 69.4% between 2021 and 2025. This is new data from Eurostat cited by Euronews.
In Poland, after-tax wages rose by 66% over the same period, followed by Romania with an increase of 61.3%. In Croatia, Lithuania and Hungary, net wages also rose by more than 50% on average.
On the other hand, wages remained relatively stable in Norway (5.5%), Sweden (6.1%) and Italy (10.6%), which saw the slowest growth in Europe between 2021 and 2025.
In Germany, France and Spain, wage growth was also below the EU average of 20%.
Where are taxes exerting the most pressure?
For businesses with at least 10 employees, labor costs about 35 euros per hour. In eurozone countries, this rises to 38 euros.
Around a quarter of this money is accounted for by non-wage costs. According to Eurostat, employers in France (32%), Sweden (32%) and Slovakia (29%) have the highest costs of social contributions, while in Romania, Lithuania and Malta this share is almost zero.
Spain and Italy have higher labor taxes than the EU average and net hourly wages below the bloc average.
Highestlabor costsin the EU
Employers pay the most in Luxembourg – around €57 per hour when wages and social contributions are included. This is €5 per hour more than second-placed Denmark and almost €10 more than third-placed Netherlands.
In Bulgaria, labor costs are only 12 euros per hour, the lowest in the EU, and in Hungary they are just over 15 euros.
According to Eurostat, hourly labor costs have increased by 4.1% – in the EU and 3.8% in the eurozone – compared to 2024.
Malta was the only country where total labor costs decreased (-0.5%), while the largest increases were recorded in Bulgaria (+13.1%), Croatia (+11.6%) and Slovenia (+9.3%).
