Maltese labour costs went up by two per cent in the third quarter of this year, well above the 1.4 per cent increase across the EU as a whole, according to Eurostat.

Wages increased by 2.1 per cent in Malta, and non-wage costs by 1.2 per cent, compared with 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively for the EU.

Eurostat also analysed the results by economic activity and found that nominal hourly labour costs went up by 0.6 per cent in industry (EU28: 2.1 per cent), by 4.4 per cent in construction (EU28: 1.2 per cent) and 1.6 per cent in services (EU28: 1.2 per cent).

The highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy were registered in Estonia (+6.3 per cent), Slovakia (+5.7 per cent), Latvia (+5.4 per cent), Greece and Romania (both +5.2 per cent).

Decreases were recorded in Cyprus (-2.8 per cent), Ireland (-0.8 per cent) and Croatia (-0.3 per cent).

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