The total hourly labour cost rose in the third quarter of 2016

Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the third quarter of 2016 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 8.4% compared to the third quarter of 2015. The total hourly labour cost grew by 8.5% in industry, by 7.7% in services and by 5.0% in construction.

The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growths in total labour costs were recorded in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ - 19.6%, ‘Human health and social work activities’ - 10.3% and ‘Real estate activities’ - 10.2%. The lowest increase in total labour costs was observed in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ by 0.8%, ‘Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’ by 1.9% and ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ - 4.6%.

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 8.8%. Among the economic activities in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the third quarter of 2015 the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 1.0% in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ to 19.9% in ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’.