Hourly labour costs in the euro area (EA17) rose by 2.0% in the year up to the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2.8% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 1.7% up to the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2.7% for the previous quarter.

The two main components of labour costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages & salaries per hour worked grew by 2.0% in the year up to the first quarter of 2012, as did the non-wage component, compared with 2.6% and 3.5% respectively for the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU27, hourly wages & salaries rose by 1.7% and the non-wage component by 2.1% in the year up to the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2.6% and 3.4% respectively for the fourth quarter of 2011.

The breakdown by economic activity shows that in the euro area hourly labour costs rose by 2.5% in industry, by 1.9% in construction and by 1.8% in services in the year up to the first quarter of 2012. In the EU27, labour costs per hour grew by 2.7% in industry and by 1.4% in both construction and services.

Member States

Among the Member States for which data are available for the first quarter of 2012, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs were registered in Estonia (+7.2%), Bulgaria (+6.8%), Austria (+5.3%) and Romania (+5.2%), and the lowest in Luxembourg (+0.9%) and Cyprus (+1.0%). Hourly labour costs decreased in Slovenia (-1.2%) and remained stable in the United Kingdom compared with the first quarter of 2011.