According to the results of the Labour Cost Survey for 2004, the total labour costs per hour worked in Iceland were 29 Euros on average in the economic sector of Construction compared to 22.5 Euros in Wholesale and retail trade; repair. When total labour costs are broken down to wages and other labour costs, the results show that the lowest proportion of wages to total labour costs is 83% in the economic sector of Transport, storage and communication and the highest is 85.3% in Construction.

Statistics Iceland has released a new issue of the Statistical Series within the category of Wages, income, and labour market. The issue, Labour Cost Survey 2004, presents the results from the European Labour Cost Survey (LCS) 2004. This survey is part of the statistical cooperation within the European Union through Eurostat. The purpose of the Labour Cost Survey is to collect labour cost information on a harmonised EU-wide basis. The Icelandic data cover in this report the economic activities of Manufacturing (D), Construction (F), Wholesale and retail trade; repair (G) and Transport, storage and communication (I). The results show that in those economic activities labour cost in Iceland is higher than both the EU27 and the EA13 average, except in Manufacturing where it is lower than the EA13 average.

Labour Cost Survey 2004 – Statistical Series