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Published: 22 October 2010

Labour costs EUR 45,000 per employee in 2008

Corrected on 5 November 2010. The tables of the release have been revised. The corrections are indicated in red. The changes also have an effect on the database table.

According to Statistics Finland's labour cost survey, labour costs amounted, on average, to EUR 45,000 per staff-year in 2008. The cost was highest in secondary production, about EUR 50,000 and in central government, about EUR 49,000. The local government sector had the lowest costs, around EUR 41,000.

Labour costs per hour worked and employee in 2008

Sector	Labour cost
	EUR/hour worked	EUR 1,000/employee
Sectors total	27.4	45.0
Private sector total	27.5	46.0
- Secondary production	29.8	50.2
- Services	25.9	43.0
Local government	26.1	41.5
Central government	31.2	49.3

The figures of labour costs statistics do not include primary production or enterprises with fewer than ten employees. Cost differences are mainly explainable by pay levels. The pay level of central government is higher than that of other sectors and the pay development there has also been faster than in the private and local government sectors in the mid-2000s.

The number of hours worked per staff-year is lower in the public sector than in the private sector, which is mainly due to longer annual leaves in the public sector. For this reason the total labour costs of central government per employee remain slightly below the figures for secondary production. In the local government sector wage costs are so low that despite the lower number of hours worked total labour costs remain on level with services in the private sector.

Of labour costs 75 per cent wages and salaries

Of all labour costs, 76.3 per cent are wages and salaries. The share of 1.7 per cent of pay during periods of sickness and parental leave included in social security can also be added here. The share of direct earnings, or wages and salaries paid for hours worked is 59.9 per cent. The most significant differences by sector are due to larger shares of holiday pay and higher social cost tariffs in the public than in the private sector.

Structure of labour costs in 2008, per cent

One-off pay components include performance-based bonuses, holiday bonuses, seniority increments and compensations for on-call duty and the like. Their share was higher in the private sector than in the public sector and this is explained by the share of performance-based bonuses, 2.5 per cent.

The labour cost survey 2008 is part of the statistics of all Member States of the European Union concerning 2008, on which Eurostat will publish information later on.

Source: Labour cost survey 2008. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Pentti Jonninen (09) 1734 3581, tvk@tilastokeskus.fi

Director in charge: Kari Molnar

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Hours worked, wage costs and total labour costs in private sector by group of economic activity and sector in 2008 (22.10.2010)
• Appendix table 2. The structure of labour costs by sector in 2008, per cent (22.10.2010)

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Updated 22.10.2010