Data published by Eurostat showed that in the 4th quarter hourly labor costs rose by 3.4% per year after an increase by 5.2% per year in the 3rd quarter (revised from +5.3%). Economists had expected an increase by 4.6%. Meanwhile, among EU countries hourly labor costs increased by 4.0% per annum.
Eurostat said that in the eurozone, wages and salaries per hour worked increased by 3.1% per year, slowing compared to the 3rd quarter (+5.2%), while the non-wage component rose by 4.2% per year after an increase of 5% in the previous quarter. In the EU, the costs of hourly wages and salaries increased by 3.8% per annum and the non-wage component increased by 4.6% per annum.
Hourly labor costs in the eurozone rose by 1.8% per annum in the (mainly) non-business economy and by 4.2% per annum in the business economy: +4.2% in industry, +4.4% in construction and +4.1% in services.
The report also showed that the highest increases in hourly wage costs for the whole economy were recorded in Romania (+16.9%), Hungary (+16.3%), Croatia (+16.0%), Poland (+13.1%) and Slovenia (+12.5%). Four more EU Member States recorded an increase above 10%, namely: Bulgaria (+11.9%), Lithuania (+11.2%), Latvia (+11.1%) and Estonia (+10.9%).