The labor cost of companies increased by 3.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year and stood at 2,805.01 euros per worker per month in the Canary Islands, although it remained the second lowest in the country, only above that of Extremadura, amounting to 2,756.40, according to data published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The labor costs comprise remuneration with wages and salaries in cash or in kind, social contributions ,costs of training, etc.
Said cost reached 3.382,48 euros per worker and month in the referred period in Spain, where it grew, on average, by 3,8% in relation to a year ago, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Cost Survey prepared by the INE.
A study revealing that in the archipelago it rose slightly more, 5.2%, the labor cost per effective hour of each worker, reaching 22.01 euros, despite which, in this case, it was the lowest amount in the country, surpassed even by that of Extremadura, at 22.27 euros.
The highest expenditure per worker and month, on the other hand, was recorded in the aforementioned quarter in Madrid, where it was 4,085.71 euros and experienced a year-on-year increase of 5.2%, and the second highest amount was recorded in the Basque Country, where it increased by 3.8% and reached 3,848.71 euros.
The Basque Country nevertheless surpassed Madrid in labor cost per effective hour worked, with 31.28 euros (1.9% more than a year earlier) compared to 30.73 (5% more than in the same period of 2025), thus reversing, between them, the country's first and second place, according to INE data.
The monthly salary cost allocated to each employee, once other expenses were deducted, stood in Canary Islands in the last quarter of 2025 at 2,055.94 euros, growing 4% year-on-year, and was barely higher than that of Extremadura, which had the lowest in the country, 2,035.32 euros, with a rise of 1.5%.
That cost was in Spain, on average, 2,531.04 euros, 3.6% higher than between October and December of the preceding year, and in Madrid it reached 3,098.99 euros and registered an increase of 5.3%, placing that community once again at the head of the country.