Labour cost is the cost incurred by the employer in the employment of labour. The statistics concept of labour cost comprises remuneration for work performed, payments in respect of time paid for but not worked, bonuses and gratuities, the cost of food, drink and other payments in kind, cost of workers' housing borne by employers, employers' social security expenditures, cost to the employer for vocational training, welfare services and miscellaneous items, such as transport of workers, work clothes and recruitment, together with taxes regarded as labour cost.

Resolution concerning statistics of labour cost, adopted by the Eleventh International Conference of Labour Statisticians (October 1966)