Three more EU Member States recorded an increase of 10% or more, namely: Poland (+12.0%), Lithuania (+11.0%) and Austria (+10.0%), while Greece recorded a decrease (-2.9%).
In the third quarter, Greece was the only EU country to register an annual decline in its hourly wages, at 2.9%, the bloc’s statistical office said in a quarterly report. At the same time, Slovenia’s hourly wages grew by 4.5% on the year.
Hourly wage costs went up 5% on average in the EU in July-September compared to the same period of 2023, with the rate of growth decelerating from 5.5% recorded in the previous quarter.
Wages and salaries are one of the two main components of labor costs, the other being non-wage costs, among which employers’ social contributions.
In the EU as a whole, the hourly labor costs climbed by 5.1% year-on-year in the review period, with the highest rise booked in construction, at 5.5%.
In terms of overall nominal labor costs for the whole economy in the third quarter, Romania marked the bloc’s biggest annual growth, at 17.1%. Hourly labor costs in Romania in the three months through September increased the most in construction, by 19.1%, followed by services with 15.7% and industry with 15.1%, the data showed.