The Netherlands had the sixth highest hourly wage in the European Union's business sector with an average of 38.80 euros last year. Denmark came in first place with 42,50 euros, according to European stats office Eurostat, ANP reports.

The public- and agricultural sectors are not included in these figures.

In addition to Denmark, employers in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden and France also spent more on their employees' wages than the Netherlands. Bulgaria had the lowest hourly wage at only 4.90 euros gross.

The non-wage costs in the gross salary in the Netherlands amounted to 24 percent last year. That is exactly the EU average. In the Netherlands salaries rose by an average of 2.4 percent last year, just above the EU average of 2.3 percent.