Eurostat

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 a Euro Indicator which measures the cost pressure arising from the production factor "labour". The data covered in the LCI collection relate to total average hourly labour costs and to the labour cost categories "wages and salaries" and "employers' social security contributions plus taxes paid minus subsidies received by the employer". Data - also broken down by economic activity, are available for the EU aggregates and EU Member States (NACE Rev 1.1 Sections C to K (1996Q1-2008Q4) and NACE Rev 2 Sections B to S), in working day and seasonally adjusted form. The data on the Labour Cost Index are given in the form of index numbers (current reference year: 2012) and of annual and quarterly growth rates (comparison with the previous quarter, or the same quarter of the previous year). On annual basis the labour cost levels (in Euro and national currency) are also published, based on the latest Labour Cost Survey inflated by the LCI. In contrast to the information collected for the other Labour Cost domains, the labour costs covered in the LCI do not include vocational training costs and other expenditure such as recruitment costs and working clothes expenditure. The data are estimated by the National Statistical Institutes on the basis of available structural and short-term information from samples and administrative records for enterprises of all sizes. The labour cost index (LCI) 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”.  In addition, Eurostat estimates of the annual labour cost per hour in euros are provided for 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.