Data published by Eurostat showed that in the 3rd quarter hourly labor costs rose by 4.6% per year, as expected, after an increase by 5.2% per year in the 2nd quarter (revised from +5.0%). Meanwhile, among EU countries hourly labor costs increased by 5.1% per annum, slowing compared to the 2nd quarter (+5.6% per annum).
Eurostat said that in the eurozone, the costs of hourly wages & salaries increased by 4.4% per annum, while the non-wage component rose by 5.2% per annum. In the EU, the costs of hourly wages & salaries increased by 5.0% and the non-wage component rose by 5.3%.
Hourly labor costs in the eurozone rose by 4.6% both in the (mainly) non-business economy and in the business economy: +4.6% in industry, +5.0% in construction and +4.5% in services.
The report also showed that compared to the 3rd quarter of 2023, the highest increases in hourly wage costs for the whole economy were recorded in Romania (+17.1%), Croatia (+15.1%), Hungary (+14.1%), Bulgaria (+12.7%) and Latvia (+12.6%). 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%).
Separate data showed that in the 3rd quarter, the job vacancy rate in the eurozone decreased by 0.1% q/q, to 2.5%. The job vacancy rate in the EU was 2.3% in the third quarter, down from 2.4% in the second quarter and down from 2.7% in the third quarter of 2023. The highest job vacancy rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.3%), Belgium (4.2%), and Austria (3.8%). By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Romania and Bulgaria (0.8% in both of them) and in Poland and Spain (0.9% in both of them).