Press Release - First quarter of 2016 Annual growth in labour costs up to 1.7% in euro area Down to 1.7% in EU28
Hourly labour costs rose by 1.7% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 in the first quarter of 2016, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2015, hourly labour costs increased by 1.3% and 2.0% 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 1.8% and the non-wage component by 1.5%, in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the annual changes were +1.5% and +0.7% respectively.
In the EU28, hourly wages & salaries rose by 1.7% and the non-wage component by 1.6% for the first quarter of 2016. In the fourth quarter of 2015, annual changes were +2.1% and +1.3% respectively.
Breakdown by economic activity
In the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.0% in industry, by 1.4% in construction, by 1.7% in services and by 1.6% in the (mainly) nonbusiness economy. In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 1.9% in industry, by 2.6% in construction, by 1.6% in services and by 1.5% in the (mainly) non-business economy.
page source http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
