site.btaQ2 Hourly Labour Costs Up By 15.4%

Between April and June, year-on-year, the total hourly labour cost rose by 15.4%, show preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute, released on Friday. The total hourly labour cost increased by 11.2% in industry, by 13.6% in services and by 19.5% in construction.

The highest annual growth in total labour costs was recorded in the sectors public administration and compulsory social security - by 27%, education - by 26.4% and real estate activities - by 24.9%.

In the structure of the total labour costs, other (non-wage) costs rose by 15.1%. Among the economic activities in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the second quarter of 2023, the growth rate of wages and salaries component ranged from 27.6% in public administration and compulsory social security to 2.0% in mining and quarrying.

Across the EU, hourly labour costs in the April-June rose by 5.2% and by 4.7% in eurozone countries alone, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eurostat data. Bulgaria ranks second after Croatia (+17.6%) among EU countries in terms of the increase in hourly labour costs (+15.4%) in the April-June 2024 period compared to the second quarter of 2023. In third place is Romania (+15%), followed by Hungary (+13.2%) and Poland (+13%).