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Hourly labour costs rise

16/03/2018 15:55

Hourly labour costs rose by 1.5% in the euro area (EA19) and by 2.3% in the EU28 in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

In the third quarter of 2017, hourly labour costs increased by 1.6% and 2.2% respectively. The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs. Ιn Cyprus hourly labour costs rose by 1.1% in (1.6% increase in the wage part and  -0.9% decrease in the non wage part). These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the euro area, the cost of wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.7% and the non-wage component by 1.0%, in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2017, the annual changes were +1.6% and +1.5% respectively.

In the EU28, the cost of hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.4% and the non-wage component by 2.0% in the fourth quarter of 2017. In the third quarter of 2017, annual changes were +2.1% and +2.2% respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 1.3% in industry (2.2% in Cyprus), by 2.1% in construction (0.6% in Cyprus), by 1.9% in the services (by 1.1% in Cyprus) and by 1.1% in the (mainly) nonbusiness economy (1.0% in Cyprus).