France hourly labour cost index: construction
France hourly labour cost index: construction stood at 114.5 in Q2 2026, according to INSEE – Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (BDM). It is one of the indicators in the Wages and labour cost table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 1998 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Wages and labour cost table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour cost index | |||||||||||
| hourly costs - Construction (NAF rev. 2 item F) | 114.5 | 113.8 | 115.8 | 112.7 | 112.5 | 111.8 | 111.8 | 110.3 | 109.3 | 108.8 | |
| hourly costs - Mining and quarrying (NAF rev. 2 item B) | 115.1 | 115.1 | 115 | 112.7 | 112.1 | 111.8 | 111.6 | 110.3 | 109.8 | 108.6 |
Understanding france hourly labour cost index: construction
This index quantifies hourly employer outlays for personnel engaged in building, civil engineering, and specialized construction activities. The computation incorporates direct wages, overtime premiums, mandatory social security contributions, and construction-specific employer taxes divided by the aggregate number of hours worked on site and in administrative offices. It isolates the heavy capital and weather-dependent staffing expenses characteristic of structural building operations from sibling industrial or service series.
Seasonality heavily influences this metric due to weather disruptions during winter months and mandatory summer holiday shutdowns across building sites, making annual comparisons far more stable than sequential quarterly assessments. Early estimates rely on sampled payroll declarations and are subject to retroactive adjustments as exhaustive fiscal returns are processed. Analysts comparing this series with general industrial indicators should remember that project-based hiring, subcontracting prevalence, and weather-adjusted hours can create divergence in hourly cost movements.
Frequently asked questions
- What specific activities fall under this construction cost measure?
- It includes general building construction, civil engineering projects, and specialized trade contractors operating within the construction sector.
- Why do weather patterns affect this series?
- Outdoor site work is vulnerable to seasonal weather disruptions, which alter total hours worked and skew short-term hourly cost calculations.
- How should analysts handle quarterly volatility in construction costs?
- Relying on year-on-year comparisons helps filter out predictable seasonal shutdowns and weather-related fluctuations in hours.