NSI: Total hourly labour cost rose by 10.0% in 2019

Preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the third quarter of 2019 indicate that the total hourly labour cost rose by 10.0% compared to the third quarter of 2018. The total hourly labour cost grew by 8.3% in industry, by 10.5% in services and by 10.1% in construction.

The breakdown by economic activities showed that the highest annual growth in total labour costs were recorded in "Real estate activities" – 15.0%, "Other service activities" – 14.0% and "Education" – 12.8%.

In the structure of the total labour costs, the wages and salaries costs per hour grew by 9.7% year-on-year, while the other (non-wage) costs rose by 11.2%. Among the economic activities, the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 15.1% in "Other service activities" to 2.2% in "Mining and quarrying" year-on-year.