Wages and salaries in the Euro Area rose by 3.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, accelerating from an upwardly revised 3% increase in the final quarter of 2025. The strongest annual wage growth was recorded in mining and quarrying (5.7% vs. -1.5%), real estate (4.8% vs. 4.5%), construction (44% vs. 3.8%), and education (4.4% vs. 4.5%). Wage growth in manufacturing also picked up (3.6% vs. 2.6%).
Among the bloc’s largest economies, wage increases strengthened in Germany (3.4% vs. 2.7%), France (1.8% vs. 1.4%), Italy (2.8% vs. 2.2%), and Spain (5.1% vs. 3.8%), but eased in the Netherlands (3.2% vs. 4.5%).
