Bulgaria had the lowest net earnings per worker among the 28 member states of the European Union last year, the bloc’s statistical office, Eurostat, announced on Monday.
The net earnings of a single person earning 100% of the average earnings of a worker in the business economy, without children, ranged from EUR 4,000 in Bulgaria to EUR 38,500 in Luxembourg in 2015, according to a new Eurostat survey.
Bulgaria and Luxembourg also showed the lowest (EUR 4,500) and the highest (EUR 52,500) average net earnings respectively for a married couple with a single earner and two children.
In the case when the two members of a married couple work, with both earning an average worker’s earnings, Luxembourg again recorded the highest annual net earnings, EUR 86,400 when the couple had two children, and EUR 78,800 when the couple had no children.
Bulgaria also was at the bottom of the EU-28 ranking with net earnings of EUR 8,000 irrespective of whether the couple had two children or not.
The statistical survey also showed that hourly labour costs in EU-28 ranged between EUR 4.08 in Bulgaria and EUR 41.31 in Denmark last year. The average hourly labour costs in the EU-28 were estimated at EUR 25.03 and at EUR 29.50 in the euro area (EA-19).