While average labour costs across the EU rose by 4.3% compared to the same period in 2023, Luxembourg saw a minimal uptick of just 0.8%. This marks a significant slowdown compared to the country’s 8.1% increase in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Breaking down the figures, wages and salaries in Luxembourg edged up by 0.9%, while non-wage costs – such as social contributions and employment taxes – dropped slightly by 0.1%. This contrasts sharply with the EU-wide increases of 4.7% in wages and 3.0% in non-wage costs.
Sector-specific data show that Luxembourg’s construction and industry sectors experienced the most stagnation. Hourly labour costs in construction rose by only 0.1%, and even fell by 1.2% in industry.
Services fared slightly better, with a 1.2% increase. In comparison, across the EU, the construction sector saw a 4.5% rise and industry costs grew by 4.9%.
Subdued salary growth places Luxembourg among the slowest-growing labour cost economies in the EU, alongside countries like Belgium (+2.2%) and Germany (+3.4%). In contrast, Eastern European countries such as Croatia (+13.9%), Poland (+13.8%), and Romania (+13.1%) recorded double-digit increases.
Full data available on the Eurostat website
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w/3-19032025-bp
