Malta registered the fifth highest increase in hourly labour costs in the second quarter as wages rose by four per cent.
The highest annual increases were registered in Estonia (7.7 per cent), Lithuania (6.5 per cent) and Romania (six per cent), Eurostat said.
The two main components of labour costs are wages and salaries. In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.1 per cent and the non-wage component by 0.1 per cent in the year up to the second quarter.