Labour cost increases in Malta well below EU average

Hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 3.2% in the year up to the third quarter of 2009 but only by 0.4% in Malta, according to European Commission estimates issued today.

In the EU27, the annual rise was 3.1%, compared with 4.2% for the previous quarter .

The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries and non-wage costs. In the euro area , wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 3.1% in the year up to the third quarter of 2009, and the non-wage component by 3.6%, compared with 4.2% and 4.6% respectively for the second quarter of 2009. In the EU27 , hourly wages and salaries rose by 2.9% and the non-wage component by 3.6%, compared with 4.1% for both components for the previous quarter.

Among the Member States for which data are available for the third quarter of 2009, annual decreases in hourly labour costs were observed in Lithuania (-10.9%), Estonia (-4.3%), Latvia (-2.7%) and the Netherlands (-0.8%). The highest annual rises were registered in Bulgaria (+10.4%), Romania (+9.6%), the Czech Republic (+6.4%), Finland (+6.2%), Germany (+4.8%), Spain and Portugal (both +4.7%).