Data published by Eurostat showed that in the 2nd quarter hourly labor costs rose by 4.7% per year after an increase by 5.0% per year in the 1st quarter (revised from +5.1%). Economists had expected an increase by 4.3%. Meanwhile, among EU countries hourly labor costs increased by 5.2% per annum.
Eurostat said that in the eurozone, the costs of hourly wages & salaries increased by 4.5% per annum, slowing compared to the 1st quarter (+5.2%), while the non-wage component rose by 5.2% per annum. In the EU, the costs of hourly wages & salaries increased by 5.1% and the non-wage component rose by 5.4%.
Hourly labor costs in the eurozone rose by 4.9% in the (mainly) non-business economy and by 4.6% in the business economy: +4.8% in industry, +5.3% in construction and +4.5% in services.
The report also showed that compared to the 2nd quarter of 2023, the highest increases in hourly wage costs for the whole economy were recorded in Croatia (+17.6%), Bulgaria (+15.4%), Romania (+15.0%), Hungary (+13.2%) and Poland (+13.0%). Two more EU Member States recorded an increase above 10%, namely: Latvia (+11.0%) and Lithuania (+10.9%).