Eurozone nominal hourly labour costs, workday-adjusted y/y:
total wage costs non-wage costs
3Q10 +0.8% y/y +0.7% y/y +1.2% y/y
2Q10 +1.6% y/y +1.5% y/y +1.9% (+2.0%)
1Q10 +2.0% (+1.9%) +1.9% (+1.8%) +2.1% (+2.2%)
4Q09 +2.0% y/y +1.7% (+1.8%) +2.6% y/y
—
FRANKFURT (MNI) – Eurozone hourly labour cost growth continued to
slow on the year in 3Q, marking a new record low for the series,
Eurostat reported on Thursday.
Both wage and non-wage costs decelerated in the third quarter. Wage
and salary gains eased to 0.7% y/y, less than half of 2Q’s +1.5% figure,
while the non-wage component slowed more modestly to +1.2% from +1.9%
previously.
The sharpest deceleration was noted in construction, where labour
costs rose 0.6% on the year in 3Q compared to +2.3% y/y in the three
months to June. In services, labour cost growth eased 0.8 percentage
point to +1.1% y/y, while costs in industry slowed to 0.3% y/y in 3Q
from 2Q’s +0.9%.
While wage gains are likely to pick up as the economy recovers,
stubbornly high unemployment should limit the rise and improving labour
productivity should dampen any increase in production costs, the
European Central Bank argued in its latest monthly bulletin.
“This, in combination with a still moderate but gradually
increasing rate of growth in compensation per employee, should
contribute to a moderate rebound in unit labour cost growth for euro
area firms,” the central bank said.
“Labour cost pressures are nevertheless likely to remain contained
in the medium term in the light of gradual labour market improvements,”
the ECB added.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720-142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
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