Hourly labour costs in the euro area (EA16) rose by 2.2% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 3.0% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 2.4% up to the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 2.9% 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 fourth quarter of 2009, and the non-wage component by 2.7%, compared with 2.8% and 3.5% respectively for the third quarter of 2009. In the EU27, hourly wages & salaries rose by 2.2% and the non-wage component by 3.0% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 2.8% and 3.5% respectively for the previous quarter.

The breakdown by economic activity shows that in the euro area hourly labour costs rose by 1.4% in industry, 3.7% in construction and 2.4% in services in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2009. In the EU27, labour costs per hour grew by 1.9% in industry, 3.1% in construction and 2.5% in services.

Member States

Among the Member States for which data are available for the fourth quarter of 2009, the highest annual decreases in hourly labour costs were observed in Lithuania (-10.8%), Estonia (-5.8%), Latvia (-5.6%) and Slovenia (-3.6%). The highest annual increases were registered in Bulgaria (+11.3%), Austria (+6.5%), Poland (+5.7%), the Czech Republic (+5.4%) and Romania (+5.2%).