Apart from wages, the costs that Maltese employers have to pay for labour are the lowest in the EU, according to information released by Eurostat on Monday.
Non-wage costs include the employers’ social contributions plus any employment taxes regarded as labour costs – adjusted for government subsidies.
In Malta, these amounted to just 6.7 per cent of the total cost of labour in 2017, compared to 24 per cent in the EU. France was on the other end of the scale, with 32.8 per cent.
In 2017, average hourly labour costs in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were estimated to be €26.8 in the European Union (EU) and €30.3 in the eurozone.
However, this average masks significant gaps between EU member states, with the lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€4.9) and the highest in Denmark (€42.5). Malta’s costs were €13.8 an hour, 2 per cent higher than a year before.