CYPRUS: Hourly labour costs up 0.2%

Hourly labour costs rose by 0.2% in Cyprus, by 1.5% in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.9% in the EU28 in the third quarter of 2016, compared with the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eurostat. The increase in Cyprus was the smallest in the EU.

 
In the second quarter of 2016, hourly labour costs remained the same in Cyprus and increased by 1.0% in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.4% in the EU28.
In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.6% and the non-wage component by 1.2% in the third quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of 2016, the annual changes were +0.9% and +1.5% respectively. In the EU28, hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.0% and the non-wage component by 1.5% in the third quarter of 2016. In the second quarter of 2016, annual changes were +1.4% and +1.7%, respectively.
In the third quarter, compared with the same quarter of the previous year, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 1.7% in industry, by 2.0% in construction, by 1.2% in services and by 1.8% in the (mainly) non-business economy. In the EU28, labour costs per hour grew by 2.2% in industry, by 2.6% in construction, by 1.6% in services and by 1.9% in the (mainly) non-business economy.
In the third quarter, the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania (+14.7%), the Czech Republic (+9.0%), Bulgaria (+8.4%), Latvia (+7.7%) and Lithuania (+6.8%). Decreases were recorded in Croatia (-5.5%), Malta (-2.1%) and Italy (-0.5%).