Belgium and German chemical industry workers are still the EU's best paid, the latest survey of labor costs by the German chemical employers association shows.

The survey, published shortly before the beginning of negotiations on a new contract for German workers, also looked at pay in the U.S. and Japan.

In western Germany - a different pay scale applies to the five "new" states in the former German Democratic Republic - the association said chemical company wages in 2012 for the first time passed the €50 per hour mark, rising to €51.50.

Industry-wide pay in western Germany also grew the fastest of any other EU country, it added, noting that in 2011 and 2012, wages in western Germany rose by 5% and 5.2% respectively, in the east by 9.4% and 7.2%.

Due to the euro crisis-fed recession, labor costs in Spain rose by only 2.3%, in Ireland by 2.7% and in Slovenia by 2.9% in 2012, while declining by 7.1% in Greece and 4.2% in Portugal. In euro terms, industry wage costs rose 8.7% in Sweden and 8.6% in the UK; however, BAVC said in national currencies the rise was only 4.8% and 1.5% respectively.

In euro terms, U.S. chemical workers saw a 5.7% pay increase and Japanese workers a 7.7% rise, but in national currencies, wages actually sank by 2.5% and 0.6% respectively, the survey shows.

Behind Belgium and Germany, euro-denominated industry pay in Sweden, The Netherlands, France and Denmark was the highest in 2012, with the latter on the same level as Japan, at €43 per hour. U.S. wages averaged €31 per hour. The worst-paid workers were in Bulgaria, earning only €4.28 per hour, followed by Romania, Poland and Slovakia.  Hungary and the Czech Republic were the next worst paid at around €11 per hour.

Noting that the cost of labor is important not only for chemical producers' unit costs but also plays a role in where companies decide to invest, BAVC said productivity in Germany declined in 2011 as wages increased. Even while calling for a cap on pay rises, the employers association agreed to a 3.7% wage increase for German workers over the next 14 months. The union IG BCE had asked for 5.5% more.