Eurozone’s labor costs growth slowed for the second consecutive quarter in the three months ended September, figures from Eurostat showed Thursday.
Hourly labor costs rose at a slower pace of 1.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, following a 1.6 percent hike in the preceding quarter. In the first quarter of this year, the rate of growth was 1.9 percent.
Among the components, wages and salaries per hour grew 1.4 percent annually in the September quarter and the non-wage index edged up by 0.1 percent.
Hourly labor costs went up 1.3 percent in industry, 0.8 percent in construction, 1.2 percent in services and 0.8 percent in the non-business economy.
In the EU28, labor costs increased 1.8 percent yearly in the three-month period to September, slower than the 1.9 percent spike in the second quarter.
Among the EU member states, the highest annual increases in hourly labor costs were registered in Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia and Lithuania, while decreases were seen in Portugal, Slovenia, Cyprus and Luxembourg.
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