Labour costs in Finland were, on average, 34.2 Euro per hour in 2016, according to Statistics Finland in its Labour Cost Survey published in November 2018.
In the private sector the hourly costs for an employer were 34.7 Euro, in the local government sector 31.4 Euro and in the central government sector 40.8 Euro.
The costs varied within these sectors, too. In the private sector manufacturing industries had labour costs of 37.2 Euro per hour but in the service industry the figure was 33.9 Euro.
Cost of an hour worked and the cost per staff-year in Finland by employer sector in 2016
Cost of an hour worked and the cost per staff-year by employer sector in 2016
| Sector / industry | Labour cost, per hour worked, Euro | Labour cost per staff-year, Euro |
| Sectors total | 34.2 | 55 359 |
| Private sector total | 34.7 | 57 368 |
| Manufacturing | 37.2 | 62 401 |
| Construction | 34.0 | 59 302 |
| Service industry | 33.9 | 55 394 |
| Consumer and business services | 33.3 | 55 126 |
| Welfare services | 35.6 | 56 054 |
| Local government sector | 31.4 | 48 740 |
| Central government sector | 40.8 | 59 975 |
(Table source: Statistics Finland)
The labour costs per staff-year in the table depends not only on the cost of an hour worked, but also on the number of actual working hours per year.
The higher cost of central government labour can be explained by the big number of highly educated and expert personnel. Holidays are also longer than in the private sector, which naturally makes the price of an hour worked higher.
The hourly labour cost in Finland is lowest in the local government sector
The hourly labour cost is lowest in the local government sector. This is explained by low salaries, as the holidays in local government sector are often longer than in the private sector.
In manufacturing the cost of labour seems to grow with the size of the company. In the companies with 10 to 49 employees the cost per hour worked was 31.6 Euro. In the largest companies the cost was 42.4 Euro per hour. The same tendency can be seen in the social and welfare services sector.
In consumer and business services the labour cost is on the contrary low in big companies. These often involve people working in low-paid jobs like labour rental services, property maintenance and trade.
The labour cost survey is conducted every four years. In 2012 the cost of an hour worked for an employer was 31.6 Euro, in 2008 it was 27.4 Euro.
The figures indicate the total labour costs. On average, 76.0 per cent of these were wages and salaries. Social security costs were 21.5 per cent and other costs 2.5 per cent.