Hourly labour costs rise in Cyprus and Euro area in general

Hourly labour costs rose by 2.6% in the euro area (EA19), by 3.1% in the EU28 and by 6.1% in Cyprus in the third quarter of 2019, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2019, hourly labour costs increased by 2.8%, 3.2% and 6.1% respectively, according to data published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

“Hourly labour costs rose by 2.6% in the euro area, by 3.1% in the EU28, and by 6.1% in Cyprus”

The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries, and non-wage costs. In the euro area, the cost of both wages and salaries per hour worked and the non-wage component grew by 2.6% in the third quarter of 2019, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2019, the annual changes were +2.8% and +2.9% respectively.

In the EU28, the costs of hourly wages & salaries rose by 3.2% and the non-wage component rose by 2.7% in the third quarter of 2019. In the second quarter of 2019, annual changes were +3.3% and +3.0% respectively.

In Cyprus, the costs of hourly wages & salaries rose by 4.0% and the non-wage component rose by 16.7% in the third quarter of 2019. In the second quarter of 2019, annual changes were +4.1% and +17.1% respectively.

“In Cyprus, hourly wages and salarY costs rose by 4.0%”

In the third quarter of 2019 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.9% in industry, by 2.3% in construction, by 2.5% in services and by 2.6% in the (mainly) nonbusiness economy. In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 3.3% in industry, by 3.2% in construction, by 3.1% in services and by 2.9% in the (mainly) non-business economy.

In Cyprus, hourly labour costs rose by 5.3% in the business economy, 7.6% in the primarily non-business economy, 4.8% in the industry, 6.4% in construction and 5.2% in services.

In the third quarter of 2019, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+13.2%) and Bulgaria (+10.0%) while the lowest increases were recorded in Luxembourg (0.3%) and Finland (0.4%).