Annual growth in labor costs in Estonia among fastest in EU
Estonia's hourly labor costs increased by 8.6 percent on year in the third quarter of 2017, representing one of the highest ratios of growth in the EU, according to Eurostat.
In the third quarter of 2017, the highest annual increases in hourly labor costs for the whole economy were registered in Romania at 16.5 percent, Hungary at 12.6 percent, and Bulgaria at 10.7 percent.
Decreases of three and 1.1 percent were recorded in Finland and Portugal, respectively.
In Estonia, hourly wages grew by 8.7 percent and other payouts by 8.4 percent.
In Latvia and Lithuania, the annual rates of increase in hourly labor costs were 5.2 and 7.9 percent, respectively.
In the third quarter of 2017, hourly labor costs rose by 1.6 percent in the euro area and by 2.1 percent in the EU28 on year, according to Eurostat. In the second quarter, hourly labor costs increased by 1.8 and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS