Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, released Thursday data on hourly labour costs in the euro zone and in the EU. In both instances, the records indicate a very small increase but enough to strengthen the argument of those governments introducing wide-reach labour market reforms.
Hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.8% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.6% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 2.7% up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.6% for the previous quarter.
The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries, and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 2.5% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, and the non-wage component by 3.5%, compared with 2.4% and 3.1% respectively for the third quarter of 2011. In the EU27, hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.6% and the non-wage component by 3.5% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.5% and 3.2% respectively for the third quarter of 2011.
The breakdown by economic activity shows that in the euro area hourly labour costs rose by 3.3% in industry and 2.6% in both construction and services in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU27, labour costs per hour grew by 3.2% in industry, 2.7% in construction and 2.5% in services.
Over the whole year 2011, hourly labour costs increased by 2.8% in the euro area and by 2.7% in the EU27, compared with 1.5% and 1.7% respectively in 2010.
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