Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the fourth quarter of 2020 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 10.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The total hourly labour cost grew by 4.6% in industry, by 8.2% in services and by 6.0% in construction.
The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Education’ - 25.6%, ‘Human health and social work activities’ - 24.7% and ‘Real estate activities’ by 20.5%. Decrease in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ by 2.4% and in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ by 0.9%.
In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 10.0% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 10.1%. Among the economic activities in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 24.8% in ‘Education’ to (-3.1%) in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’.