Euro zone labour costs jumped in the second quarter, led by rises in industry and the construction sector, despite a hefty fall in employment and increasing joblessness.
Hourly labour costs in the 16-country euro area rose 4.0 per cent in the April-June quarter against the same period of 2008, up from a 3.6 per cent rise in the first quarter, European Union statistics office Eurostat said today.
Euro zone wages grew by 3.9 per cent in the same period, up from a 3.4 per cent gain in the first quarter, the data showed.
Euro zone employment in the second quarter fell 0.5 per cent from the previous three months, or by 702,000 people, to 145.6 million. Unemployment rose to 9.4 per cent of the workforce in June from 9.2 per cent in April.
Labour costs grew fastest in Greece and Spain - by 6.6 and 6.0 per cent respectively, but the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany, was not far behind with a 5.5 per cent increase.
Total hourly labour costs grew by 5.3 per cent in industry, led by Germany, where they soared by 7.5 per cent. In France, industry labour costs as a whole and wages in particular remained unchanged in the second quarter.
In construction, Spain saw the biggest, 8.4 per cent increase in labour costs despite the collapse of its building sector in the wake of the global credit crunch.
Germany had the second-biggest increase - 5.6 per cent.
The services sector, which generates more than two thirds of the euro zone's gross domestic product, showed the slowest labour cost growth of the three, up 3.2 per cent against the previous year.
Reuters