EU & euro area see surge in labour costs in Q3 2023

Breaking down the components of labour costs, the increase is seen in both wages and salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked ascended by 5.3 per cent, and the non-wage component increased by 5.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Similarly, in the EU, hourly wages and salaries saw a rise of 5.8 per cent, with the non-wage component going up by 5.4 per cent, as per Eurostat.

In the euro area, the hourly labour costs in the (mainly) non-business economy rose by 4.2 per cent, while the increase in the business economy was more pronounced at 5.8 per cent, with a 5.8 per cent growth in the industry sector. For the EU, the growth was 4.8 per cent in the non-business economy and 6.1 per cent in the business economy, with the industry sector witnessing a 6.2 per cent increase.

The highest increases in hourly wage costs for the whole economy were recorded in several EU Member States, with Croatia (16.2 per cent), Bulgaria (15.8 per cent), Hungary (15.4 per cent), and Romania (15.1 per cent) leading the surge. Additionally, Latvia (12.4 per cent), Poland (12.2 per cent), Lithuania (11.2 per cent), and Estonia (11.0 per cent) also reported increases exceeding 10 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)