EU's competitive divide highlighted

IRELAND is the eighth most expensive country in the EU in terms of employment costs, a pan European survey has found.

According to the survey, it is more than four times costlier to employ someone in western Europe than in the east.

Belgium and Sweden come out the most expensive, according to the Mercer Human Resources survey. Latvia and Lithuania offer the lowest cost bases to businesses looking for a competitive edge. Irish employment costs are 18% less than in Britain. Mercer said costs in the most expensive countries were more than 10 times those in the least costly countries.