Total hourly labour costs in the euro area (EA13) rose at an annual rate of 2.5% in nominal terms up to the second quarter of 2007, compared with 2.3% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 3.2% up to the second quarter of 2007, compared with 3.6% for the previous quarter.



The two main components of labour costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages & salaries grew at an annual rate of 2.5% up to the second quarter of 2007, and non-wage costs by 1.8%, compared with 2.3% and 1.9% respectively for the first quarter of 2007. In the EU27, wages & salaries rose by 3.3% and the non-wage component by 2.5%. For the previous quarter the corresponding rates were 3.8% and 2.7%.

A breakdown by economic activity shows that in the euro area hourly labour costs rose at an annual rate of 2.7% in industry, 3.2% in construction and 2.2% in services up to the second quarter of 2007. In the EU27, labour costs grew by 3.2% in industry and by 3.3% in both construction and services.

Member States

Among the Member States for which data are available for the second quarter of 2007 the smallest annual increases in hourly labour costs were observed in Germany (1.2%), Sweden (2.3%) and Finland (2.6%). The highest annual rises were registered in Latvia (31.7%), Romania (23.4%), Lithuania (21.6%) and Estonia (18.7%).

Annual growth in the wages & salaries component ranged from 0.3% in Malta to 31.6% in Latvia. The range for non-wage costs was from -0.8% in Germany to 30.3% in Latvia.