OREANDA-NEWS. Hourly labour costs rose by 1.3% in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.9% in the EU28 in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2015, hourly labour costs increased by 1.1% and 1.9% respectively. These figures are published by 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, wages & salaries per hour worked grew by 1.5% and the non-wage component by 0.7%, in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2015, the annual changes were +1.5% and +0.2% respectively. In the EU28, hourly wages & salaries rose by 2.0% and the non-wage component by 1.4% for the fourth quarter of 2015. In the third quarter of 2015, annual changes were +2.1% and +1.2% respectively.

Breakdown by economic activity
In the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 1.2% in industry, by 0.5% in construction, by 1.3% in services and by 1.6% in the (mainly) nonbusiness
economy. In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 1.7% in industry, by 2.5% in construction, by 2.0% in services and by 1.7% in the (mainly) non-business economy.

Member States
In the fourth quarter of 2015, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+11.4%), the Czech Republic (+8.6%), Latvia (+7.7%), Bulgaria (+5.8%), Slovakia (+5.3%) and Austria (+5.2%). Decreases were recorded in Italy and Cyprus (both -0.8%), the Netherlands (-0.4%) and Luxembourg (-0.1%).