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Hourly labour costs rose by 5.2%

13/09/2019 15:02

Hourly labour costs rose by 2.7% in the euro area (EA19), by 3.1% in the EU28, by 5.2% in Cyprus and 2.1% in Greece, in the second quarter of 2019, compared with the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The two main components of labour costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs.

In the euro area, the cost of wages & salaries per hour worked grew by 2.7% and the non-wage component by 2.9% in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the EU28, the costs of hourly wages & salaries rose by 3.1% and the non-wage component rose by 3.0% in the second quarter of 2019. In Cyprus and Greece the same rates are 3.1% and 16.2% and 2.5% and 0.9% respectively.

In the second quarter of 2019 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.1% in industry, by 2.4% in construction, by 2.9% in services and by 3.0% in the (mainly) non/business economy. In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 2.5% in industry, by 3.1% in construction and by 3.3% in both services and in the (mainly) non-business economy.

In the second quarter of 2019, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+12.4%), Bulgaria (+11.0%), Slovakia (+10.6%) and Hungary (+10.1%) while the lowest increases were recorded in Portugal (0.9%) and Malta (1.1%)