NSI: The wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 5.9% in comparison with a year earlier

Preliminary data of National Statistical Institute for the Second Quarter of 2012 indicated that the total hourly labour cost rose by 4.8% compared to the Second Quarter of 2011. The total hourly labour cost grew by 2.5% in industry and by 8.9% in services. In construction the total hourly labour costs decreased by 2.1%.

The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles’ - 16.3%, ‘Other service activities’ - 14.7% and ‘Professional, scientific and technical activities’ - 10.8%, while the lowest annual growths were registered in ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ and ‘Financial and insurance activities’ respectively 0.5% and 2.0%. The highest decrease in total labour costs was observed in ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ by 3.9% and ‘Construction’ by 2.1%.

In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 5.9% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 0.2%. Among the economic activities in the Second Quarter of 2012 compared to the Second Quarter of 2011 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from (-3.9%) in ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ to 17.4% in ‘Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles’.