Romania is followed by the Czech Republic (+9.0%), Bulgaria (+8.4%), Latvia (+7.7%) and Lithuania (+6.8%), while decreases were recorded in Croatia (-5.5%), Malta (-2.1%) and Italy (-0.5%)
Hourly labor costs rose by 1.5%in the euro area and by 1.9% in the EU in the third quarter of 2016, compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
The two main components of labor costs are wages & salaries and non-wage costs.
The Labor Cost Index is a short-term indicator showing the development of hourly labor costs incurred by employers, in nominal terms, that is without adjusting for price developments. It is calculated dividing the labor cost in national currency by the number of hours worked. Therefore, the development of variables, labor costs and hours worked, affect the evolution of the index (base year = 2012).