Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the second quarter of 2018 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 8.5% compared to the second quarter of 2017. The total hourly labour cost grew by 10.0% in industry, by 7.0% in services and by 10.5% in construction.
The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Information and communication’ - 14.9%, ‘Administrative and support service activities’ - 12.7% and ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - 11.6%.
A decrease in total labour costs was observed in ‘Real estate activities’ by 7.5%. In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 8.3% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 9.4%. Among the economic activities in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the second quarter of 2017 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 15.8% in ‘Information and communication’ to (-8.0%) in ‘Real estate activities’.