Preliminary data of NSI for the Third Quarter of 2012 indicated that the total hourly labour cost rose by 5.9% compared to the Third Quarter of 2011. The total hourly labour cost grew by 2.3% in industry and by 11.2% in services. In construction the total hourly labour costs decreased by 0.9%.
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’ - 17.7%, ‘Professional, scientific and technical activities’ - 12.7% and ‘Other service activities’ - 12.4%, while the lowest annual growths were registered in ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ and ‘Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’ respectively 0.1% and 0.9%. The highest decrease in total labour costs was observed in ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ by 4.7% and ‘Construction’ by 0.9%.
In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 6.6% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 2.3%. Among the economic activities in the Third Quarter of 2012 compared to the Third Quarter of 2011 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from (-3.2%) in ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ to 18.2% in ‘Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles’.