Annual growth in labour costs at 2.6% in euro area, at 3.1% in EU28

Hourly labour costs rose by 2.6% in the euro area and by 3.1%  in the EU28 in the third quarter of 2019, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2019, hourly labour costs increased by 2.8% and 3.2% respectively.

In the third quarter  of  2019,  the  highest  annual  increases  in  hourly  labour  costs  for  the  whole  economy  were registered in Romania(+13.2%) and Bulgaria(+10.0%) while the lowest increases were recorded in Luxembourg (0.3%) and Finland (0.4%).