Employing a manufacturing worker in Germany costs about $55 an hour, more than eight times China's bill
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — October 14, 2026 — Employing a manufacturing worker in Germany costs about $55 an hour, counting everything an employer pays, according to the Industry Economics & Competitiveness 2025 Annual Review from Intratec Solutions. That is dearer than in the United States, and more than eight times China's bill. German industry is not weak: it is the cost base that pins Germany to 21st of 33 economies in the ranking, down one place this year.
The Annual Review scores 33 economies, together more than 80% of global manufacturing output, as places to make the industrial commodities behind everyday products, from plastics to fertilizers and industrial metals. Every country is measured on the same basis, across 14 pillars — including labor costs, energy prices, taxes and access to raw materials — in 7 industries, and ranked on a single 0–100 Country Score built from full-year 2025 averages. Germany scores 48.8.
Across the field, all-in manufacturing labor as paid runs from $1.6 an hour in Indonesia to $57.1 in Belgium, a 36-fold spread, against a 33-country average of $26.0. The United States pays about $50.8 an hour; China about $6.7.
Labor is not Germany's only heavy line. A plant costs 1.24 times what it does in the United States, employers pay a 19% charge on wages, and energy runs about $22.7 per MMBtu. On the cost of raw materials themselves, Germany ranks 27th of 33.
What keeps Germany off the bottom is industrial weight. It ranks eighth of 33 for the size of its home market and eighth for industrial output, fourth for freight costs and sixth for processing margin: its plants still turn raw materials into finished product at a profit, despite what the inputs cost.
Bruno Maia, Lead Analyst, Industry Economics & Competitiveness, said: "Seven countries put a bigger home market behind their plants than Germany, and every one of them sits outside Europe. That scale, plus the eighth-largest industrial output of the 33, is what keeps Germany competitive at $55-an-hour labor costs."
Germany is one of 13 European countries in the ranking, and none of them reaches the top ten; Spain leads the region at 16th. China finished first for the eleventh consecutive year.
The Industry Economics & Competitiveness 2025 Annual Review is published by Intratec Solutions. The ranking is free to read and the methodology is open; everything in the report may be quoted, charted or republished with attribution.
About Intratec Solutions
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