Preliminary data of National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the Fourth Quarter of 2012 indicated that the total hourly labour cost rose by 5.1% compared to the Fourth Quarter of 2011. The total hourly labour cost grew by 2.9% in industry and by 9.1% in services. In construction the total hourly labour costs decreased by 2.4%.
The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in “Other service activities” - 26.3%, “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” - 18.0%, “Real estate activities” - 14.1% and “Accommodation and food service activities”- 13.8%. The highest decrease in total labour costs was observed in “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” by 6.6% and “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply” by 3.9%.
In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 5.8% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 1.7%. Among the economic activities in the Fourth Quarter of 2012 compared to the Fourth Quarter of 2011 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from (-6.1%) in “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” to 29.1% in “Other service activities”.