This statistic shows a forecast for the development of the real wages in the member states of the European Union in 2024. In 2024, the real wages in Romania are forecasted to increase by 5.9 percent compared to the previous year.

The country with the highest minimum wage rate in Europe during the first half of 2025 was Luxembourg, with a minimum wage of 2638 euros. Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany were the countries with the next highest minimum wages, all above 2000 euros a month, while Albania, Bulgaria, and Montenegro had the lowest minimum wages in the same period.

Luxembourg had the highest average annual wage in Europe in 2024, at approximately ****** U.S. dollars when adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP). Greece, which had an average annual salary of less than *******U.S dollars a year, had the lowest among the countries provided in this statistic.

This dataset provides values for WAGE GROWTH reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This dataset provides values for WAGES reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) collects timely and comparable multidimensional microdata on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions.

The EU-SILC collection is a key instrument for providing information required by the European Semester (_[1]) and the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the main source of data for microsimulation purposes and flash estimates of income distribution and poverty rates.

AROPE remains crucial to monitor European social policies, especially to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion. For more information, please consult EU social indicators.

The EU-SILC instrument provides two types of data:

• Cross-sectional data pertaining to a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions.
• Longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over four‐or more year rotation scheme (Annex III (2) of 2019/1700).

EU-SILC collects:

• annual variables,
• three-yearly modules,
• six-yearly modules,
• ad-hoc new policy needs modules,
• optional variables.

The variables collected are grouped by topic and detailed topic and transmitted to Eurostat in four main files (D-File, H-File, R-File and P-file).

The domain ‘Income and Living Conditions’ covers the following topics: persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion, income inequality, income distribution and monetary poverty, living conditions, material deprivation, and EU-SILC ad-hoc modules, which are structured into collections of indicators on specific topics.

In 2023, in addition to annual data, in EU-SILC were collected: the three yearly module on labour market and housing, the six yearly module on intergenerational transmission of advantages and disadvantages, housing difficulties, and the ad hoc subject on households energy efficiency.

Starting from 2021 onwards, the EU quality reports use the structure of the Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS).

_{([1]) The European Semester is the European Union’s framework for the coordination and surveillance of economic and social policies.}

Average net earnings in the European Union was ****** Euros for a single person with no children in 2022, while for a couple with children who both worked it was ****** Euros. Among countries in Europe, *********** was the country with the highest net earnings in 2022, followed by *******************************. The lowest net earnings were found in Bulgaria and Romania, where a single person without children earned on average less than ***** Euros in 2022.

Graph and download economic data for Labor Compensation: Earnings: Manufacturing: Hourly for Euro Area (19 Countries) (LCEAMN01EZA659S) from 1997 to 2024 about compensation, Euro Area, Europe, earnings, hours, and manufacturing.

Nominal wage growth in both the European Union and the Euro currency area (comprising ** of the ** EU members) reached a record high in the second quarter of **, when wages increased by *** and *** percent respectively. This trend continued during 2023, with a wage increase of *** and *** percent during the third quarter of **. Nominal wage growth is the increase in wages compared to the same period the previous year in nominal values - i.e. in monetary values unadjusted for inflation. As inflation in Europe increase faster than nominal wages during this period, this in fact meant that real wages (increases adjusted for inflation) fell.

Labour cost statistics constitute a hierarchical system of multi-annual, yearly and quarterly statistics, designed to provide a comprehensive and detailed picture of the level, structure and short-term development of labour costs in the different sectors of economic activity in the European Union and certain other countries. All statistics are based on a harmonised definition of labour costs.

The quarterly Labour Cost Index (LCI) is one of the Principal European economic indicators. It shows the short-term development of the labour cost, the total cost on an hourly basis of employing labour. In other words, the LCI measures the cost pressure arising from the production factor “labour”.

The data covered by the LCI collection relate to the total average hourly labour costs and its components "wages and salaries" and "employers' social security contributions plus taxes paid minus subsidies received by the employer" (known as the non-wage component of the LCI). The data on vocational training costs and other expenditures such as recruitment costs and working clothes expenditure is not included in the calculation of the labour cost index.

The data is broken down by economic activity (NACE Rev 1.1 Sections C to O (1996Q1-2008Q4) and NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to S (2009Q1 onwards). The data is available for the EU aggregates and the EU Member States, EFTA countries (Iceland and Norway) as well as candidate and potential candidate countries (Serbia and Turkey). The data is available as 'unadjusted data (neither seasonally adjusted nor calendar adjusted data)', 'calendar-adjusted data' as well as 'seasonally and calendar adjusted' data.

The data on the Labour Cost Index is given in the form of index numbers (current base year: 2020) and as annual and quarterly growth rates (comparison with the previous quarter, or the same quarter of the previous year). Since June 2023 (publication of 2023Q1 data) base year of the indices changed from 2016 to 2020. Indices with the base year 2016 will no longer be published.

The National Statistical Institutes compile the indicators based on the available structural and short-term information collected directly from the sampled enterprises or taken from administrative data sources. All enterprises, irrespective of the size (measured by the number of employees) are covered in the LCI.

In addition, Eurostat estimates of the annual labour cost per hour in euros are provided for the EU Member States as well as the whole EU; they were obtained by combining the four-yearly Labour cost survey (LCS) with the quarterly labour cost index. Methodological information related to the annual estimates of hourly labour costs is available in separate metadata accessible here.

Early estimates of the Labour Cost Index (‘flash estimates’ or ‘FEs’) (quarterly)

Since May 2024, Eurostat has started publishing early estimates for the Labour Cost Index (‘flash estimates’ or ‘FEs’). The flash estimates (are published around t+50 days, as specified in the general release calendar of Eurostat, based on the data transmitted at t+45 days. EU countries that participate in the FE data collection are those whose annual number of employees (over the age of 15) represents more than 3% of EU totals or 3% of euro area totals, based on LFS data assessed over a period of three consecutive years. These 9 selected countries (i.e. ‘FE countries ’) are: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Poland and Romania (see table 1).

Table 1: Share of EA/EU employees in each of the participating countries.

(Source: EU-LFS, reference period 2023)

In the second half of 2024, the highest minimum wage in Central and Eastern European countries was recorded in ******** (***** euros). Poland and Lithuania followed. The lowest minimum wage was in ******** at (*** euros) per month.

Net annual earnings for a single earner family with two children in the European Union have increased from 25,434 euros in 2013 to 33,939 euros over the period from 2013 to 2023. Net earnings received a boost during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, in spite of gross earnings decreasing in 2020, due to reduced taxes and increased family allowances.

Slovenia, Estonia, and Poland had the highest net minimum wages among Central and Eastern European countries as of ************.

Labour cost index shows the short-term development of the total cost, on an hourly basis, for employers of employing the labour force. The index covers all market economic activities except agriculture, forestry, fisheries, education, health, community, social and personal service activities. Labour costs include gross wages and salaries, employers social contributions and taxes net of subsidies connected to employment. The labour cost index is compiled as a "chain-linked Laspeyres cost-index" using a common index reference period (2016 = 100). The index is presented in calendar and seasonally adjusted form. Growth rates with respect to the previous quarter (Q/Q-1) are calculated from seasonally and calendar adjusted figures while growth rates with respect to the same quarter of the previous year (Q/Q-4) are calculated from calendar adjusted figures.

As of June 2024, ******* recorded the highest average net salary among CEE countries, followed by Slovenia, Czechia, and Poland. ********** earned the least, *** euros net.

European Union WSI: swda: EA 20: BE: Services data was reported at 117.800 2020=100 in Dec 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 116.700 2020=100 for Sep 2024. European Union WSI: swda: EA 20: BE: Services data is updated quarterly, averaging 85.700 2020=100 from Mar 2001 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 96 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 117.800 2020=100 in Dec 2024 and a record low of 63.500 2020=100 in Mar 2001. European Union WSI: swda: EA 20: BE: Services data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Eurostat. The data is categorized under Global Database’s European Union – Table EU.G021: Eurostat: Wages and Salaries Index: 2020=100: Seasonally and Working Days Adjusted.

European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: BE: WRT: Information & Communication data was reported at 120.400 2020=100 in Dec 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 113.400 2020=100 for Sep 2024. European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: BE: WRT: Information & Communication data is updated quarterly, averaging 86.800 2020=100 from Mar 2001 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 96 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 122.600 2020=100 in Jun 2024 and a record low of 61.500 2020=100 in Mar 2001. European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: BE: WRT: Information & Communication data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Eurostat. The data is categorized under Global Database’s European Union – Table EU.G017: Eurostat: Wages and Salaries Index: 2020=100: Working Days Adjusted.

According to European Commission forecasts, ******** will achieve the highest real wages and salary growth in 2025 (+*** percent), followed Romania and Lithuania.

As of 2025, there are nine countries which are official candidates to join the European Union, with Kosovo identified as a potential future candidate by the European Commission. To join the EU, countries must fulfill the Copenhagen Criteria, conditions which seek to ensure sufficient convergence in economic, political, and institutional/administrative matters between the candidate country and the EU before they are integrated into the bloc. Unemployment is a serious issue in many of the candidate countries for EU membership, with Moldova being the only country being below the EU average in this metric. While political and institutional concerns such as corruption, human rights issues, and the rule of law are seen as the main stumbling block for these countries to enter the EU, economic issues such as unemployment may also come to the fore in the coming years. Many citizens of current EU countries fear that newer member states will drive down wages, and this is particularly so for countries with large numbers of unemployed workers. High unemployment rates may also signal that these countries will experience a migration wave to other EU member states once their citizens attain the right to free movement within the Union.

European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: Business Economy data was reported at 121.800 2020=100 in Dec 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 111.200 2020=100 for Sep 2024. European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: Business Economy data is updated quarterly, averaging 84.800 2020=100 from Mar 2001 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 96 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 121.800 2020=100 in Dec 2024 and a record low of 58.600 2020=100 in Mar 2001. European Union WSI: wda: EA 20: Business Economy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Eurostat. The data is categorized under Global Database’s European Union – Table EU.G017: Eurostat: Wages and Salaries Index: 2020=100: Working Days Adjusted.