In the second quarter of 2017, hourly labour costs increased by 1.8% and 2.3% in the euro area and the EU28 respectively, and by 0.9% in Cyprus. 

These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.6% and the non-wage component by 1.5%, in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In Cyprus, the wage component grew by 1.4% and the non-wage component by 0.9%.

In the second quarter of 2017, the annual changes were +2.1% and +0.8% in the euro area respectively, while it was 1.0% and 0.4% in Cyprus.

In the EU28, hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.1% and the non-wage component by 2.3% in the third quarter of 2017. In the second quarter of 2017, annual changes were +2.5% and +1.8% respectively.

In the third quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labor costs in the euro area rose by 1.5% in industry, by 2.1% in both construction and services, and by 0.8% in the (mainly) non-business economy.

In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 2.0% in industry, by 2.5% in construction, by 2.6% in services and by 1.6% in the (mainly) non-business economy.

In Cyprus labour costs grew by 1.9% in the business economy and by 0.2% in the non business economy.

In the third quarter of 2017, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+16.5%), Hungary (+12.6%) and Bulgaria (+10.7%). A decrease was recorded in Finland (-3.0%) and Portugal (-1.1%).

Source: Famagusta Gazette