Area euro - Costo del lavoro

Hourly labour costs in the Euro Area increased 2.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, following a revised 2.5 percent growth in the previous three-month period. Wages & salaries rose 2.7 percent (vs 2.7 percent in Q1) and non-wage costs went up 2.9 percent (vs 2.1 percent in Q1). By economic activity, hourly labour costs rose by 2.1 percent in industry, by 2.4 percent in construction, by 2.9 percent in services and by 3 percent in the (mainly) nonbusiness economy. Among Eurozone's largest economies, labour cost growth picked up in Germany (3.2 percent vs 2.5 percent), Spain (3.2 percent vs 2.6 percent), Ireland (3.5 percent vs 2.3 percent) and the Netherlands (2.3 percent vs 2.2 percent). Meanwhile, labour costs advanced at a softer pace in France (2 percent vs 2.7 percent) and Italy (1.6 percent vs 2.5 percent).

Hourly labour costs in the Euro Area increased 2.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, following a 2.3 growth in the previous three-month period and missing market expectations of 2.6 percent. By economic activity, hourly labour costs rose by 2.5 percent in industry, by 2.3 percent in construction, by 2.4 percent in services and by 2.5 percent in the (mainly) nonbusiness economy. Among Eurozone's largest economies, labour cost growth picked up in Germany (2.5 percent vs 2.0 percent), France (2.7 percent vs 2.5 percent), Italy (2.6 percent vs 2.1 percent) and Spain (2.5 percent vs 1.2 percent). By contrast, labour costs advanced at a softer pace in Ireland (2.0 percent vs 2.6 percent) and the Netherlands (1.5 percent vs 2.8 percent), while fell in Greece (-0.2 percent vs 2.5 percent).

Hourly labour costs in the Euro Area increased 2.3 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, following a 2.5 percent rise in the previous period and below market expectations of a 2.7 percent gain. By economic activity, hourly labour costs rose by 1.9 percent in industry, by 2.4 percent in construction, by 2.5 percent in services and by 2.4 percent in the (mainly) non-business economy. Among Eurozone's largest economies, labour cost growth slowed in Germany (2.0 percent vs 2.6 percent), Spain (1.1 percent vs 2.7 percent) and Italy (2.2 percent vs 2.4 percent) but picked up in France (2.5 percent vs 2.2 percent.