In the European Union Irish hourly labour costs (the average cost to an employer of hiring a person for an hour) are below those of Germany, Austria, Finland, Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. This is according to the latest data from Eurostat, the European statistics agency. This is without making an allowance for the fact that living costs in Ireland are high.
In a separate report Forfás confirmed Ireland's low labour costs when judged against our peers. Compared to 28 OECD countries (a group of advanced industrialised countries across the world) Ireland came mid table (14th highest). Forfás attributes this to the fact that 'Ireland has one of the lowest levels of employers’ social welfare contributions'. Adjusting for living costs, annual wages in Ireland are below those of Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, the UK, Denmark, and Switzerland.
More information on labour costs can be found in the NERI Quarterly Economic Facts (though some of the data has been updated since publication).