wage
© Marc Herremans/mediahuis
If you divide the full payroll burden of companies by the total number of hours worked in 2023, regardless of status, then an hour of labor costs the Belgian employer an average of 27.44 euros. This is an increase of 9.1 percent compared to 2022. Wage costs are highest in Brussels: 31.45 euros per hour. In Flanders this is 29.10 euros, in Wallonia 25 euros. HR service provider Securex calculated this based on 578,756 contracts with 20,847 companies.
The calculation is special because it makes no distinction according to statute. Securex added up the full wage burden of all employees employed in 2023: permanent contracts, flexi-jobs, student jobs, apprenticeship contracts, etc. The gross salary also included employer charges and fringe benefits. Securex divided this sum by the total number of hours actually worked, resulting in the real average wage costs per hour.
These differ from the hourly wage costs as mapped by the European statistical office Eurostat, based on surveys among large companies. In Eurostat’s last overview, from April 2024, the average Belgian hourly wage costs in 2023 amounted to 47.1 euros. In the Netherlands this was 43.3 euros, in France 42.2 euros and in Germany 41.3 euros. The average in the EU is 31.8 euros. Securex also made a comparison between sectors. The highest wage costs for white-collar workers are recorded in metal (45.31 euros), chemicals (44.53 euros), international trade and logistics (42 euros). The lowest in retail (22.54 euros), tourism (22.60 euros) and the audiovisual sector (27.64 euros). For workers, the winning sectors are chemicals (35.97 euros), recycling (30.86 euros) and textiles (30.47 euros). The lowest wage costs per hour are in agriculture (17.85 euros), horticulture (20.34 euros) and food trade (23.07 euros).(ls)
