Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the second quarter of 2021 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 6.7% compared to the second quarter of 2020. The total hourly labour cost increased by 1.7% in industry, 4.7% in services and 13.4% in construction.
The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” - 23.2%, “Human health and social work activities” - 21.3% and “Construction” by 13.4%. The highest decrease in total labour costs was recorded in “Real estate activities” by 4.9%, “Transportation and storage” by 2.2% and “Financial and insurance activities” by 1.2%. In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour worked grew by 7.2% in comparison with a year earlier, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 4.3%.
Among the economic activities in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the second quarter of 2020 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 23.4% in “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” to -5.6% in “Real estate activities”.